bái

white

Origin unclear. Possibly depicts a thumb or a person's face.

Evolution

白 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
白 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
白 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
白 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
白 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

bái

white; pure, unblemished; bright; snowy; pure; empty; blank; plain; clear; to make clear; in vain; gratuitous; free of charge; reactionary; anti-communist; funeral; to stare coldly; to write wrong character; to state; to explain; vernacular; spoken lines in opera

 

Bái

surname Bai

Most common words with 白
Freq.
Word
Meaning

明白

clear

white

白痴

idiocy

白色

white

白天

daytime

Component uses

Meaning component in 16 characters (3 verified)

Sound component in 14 characters (7 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*bˤrak

baek

bái

white


Statistics

HSK level 1

Appears in 96.2198% of movies

195th most common character in movies

286th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

5

Unicode

U+767D

Shuowen

“白,西方色也。陰用事,物色白。从入合二。二,陰數。,古文白。”


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