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Definition 2024


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Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

(radical 106 白+0, 5 strokes, cangjie input 竹日 (HA), four-corner 26000, composition丿)

  1. Kangxi radical #106, (white).

Derived characters

  • Index:Chinese radical/白
  • (in current form)

References

  • KangXi: page 785, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 22678
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1196, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2642, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+767D

Chinese

simp. and trad.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*pʰraːɡs, *pʰraːɡ
*pʰraːɡs, *mbraːd
*pʰaːɡ, *pʰraːɡ
*pʰaːɡ
*baːɡ
*baːɡ
*tʰaːɡ, *pʰraːɡ
*prɯɡ
*praːɡ
*praːɡ
*praːɡ
*praːɡ, *pʰraːɡ
*praːɡ
*praːɡ
*pʰraːɡ
*pʰraːɡ
*pʰraːɡ, *ɡeːwʔ
*mpʰraːɡ, *mbraːɡ
*braːɡ
*braːɡ
*braːɡ
*braːɡ
*mbraːɡ
*mbraːɡ
*mbraːɡ
*mbraːɡ
*mbraːɡ
*mbraːɡ
*mbraːɡ
*praɡ, *preɡ
*ɦmreːɡ

Pictogram (象形) – originally an acorn. The character acquired its current meaning of white from the color of the acorn’s flesh. The original meaning has been lost. (Compare – originally “nose”, now “self”.)

Pronunciation



  • Dialectal data
Variety Location
Mandarin Beijing /pai³⁵/
Harbin /pai²⁴/
Tianjin /pai⁴⁵/
Jinan /pei²¹³/
Qingdao /pe⁴²/
Zhengzhou /pɛ⁴²/
Xi'an /pei²⁴/
Xining /pɨ²⁴/
Yinchuan /pia¹³/
/pɛ¹³/
Lanzhou /pə⁵³/
Ürümqi /pai⁵¹/
/pei⁵¹/
Wuhan /pɤ²¹³/
Chengdu /pe³¹/
Guiyang /pɛ²¹/
Kunming /pə³¹/
Nanjing /pəʔ⁵/
Hefei /pɐʔ⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /pai¹¹/
/piəʔ⁵⁴/
Pingyao /piʌʔ⁵³/ ~的
/pæ¹³/ ~菜
Hohhot /pɛ³¹/
Wu Shanghai /baʔ¹/
Suzhou /bɑʔ³/
Hangzhou /bɑʔ²/
Wenzhou /ba²¹³/
Hui Shexian /pʰɛ²²/
Tunxi /pʰa¹¹/
Xiang Changsha /pə²⁴/
Xiangtan /pæ²⁴/
Gan Nanchang /pʰɑʔ²/
Hakka Meixian /pʰak̚⁵/
Taoyuan /pʰɑk̚⁵⁵/
Cantonese Guangzhou /pak̚²/
Nanning /pak̚²²/
Hong Kong /pak̚²/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /pik̚⁵/
/peʔ⁵/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /paʔ⁵/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /pa⁴⁴/
/pɛ⁴²/
Shantou (Min Nan) /peʔ⁵/
Haikou (Min Nan) /ʔbɔk̚⁵/
/ʔbɛ³⁵/

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (3)
Final () (113)
Tone (調) Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () II
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/bˠæk̚/
Pan
Wuyun
/bᵚak̚/
Shao
Rongfen
/bak̚/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/baɨjk̚/
Li
Rong
/bɐk̚/
Wang
Li
/bɐk̚/
Bernard
Karlgren
/bʱɐk̚/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
bái
Middle
Chinese
‹ bæk ›
Old
Chinese
/*bˤrak/
English white

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1
No. 207
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*braːɡ/

Definitions

  1. white
       bái   white color
  2. clear; easy to understand
       míngbái   clear , obvious
    /    qiǎnbái   simple
  3. clear; pure; plain; blank
    /    báizhǐ   a blank sheet of paper
       báishuǐ   plain water
       báizhōu   plain congee
  4. vernacular
    /    báihuà   spoken language
  5. reactionary; anti-communist
    /    báijūn   The White army
    /    bái   The White area
    色恐怖   báisèkǒngbù   the White terror
  6. in vain; for nothing
    我們沒有 / 我们没有   Wǒmen méiyǒu bái máng.   Our efforts were not in vain.
       bái děng le.   She waited in vain.
    他們沒有 [MSC, trad.]
    他们没有 [MSC, simp.]
    Tāmen de xuè méiyǒu bái liú. [Pinyin]
    Their blood was not shed in vain.
    所有工作 [MSC, trad. and simp.]
    Suǒyǒu de gōngzuò dōu bái zuò le. [Pinyin]
    All the work has been done for nothing.
    一趟 / 一趟   bái lái yītàng   to come in vain; to come for nothing
    東西 / 东西   báigěi de dōngxī   something given for nothing
  7. free of charge; gratuitous; gratis
    可以拿走蘋果 [MSC, trad.]
    可以拿走苹果 [MSC, simp.]
    Nǐ kěyǐ bái názǒu zhè xiē pínguǒ. [Pinyin]
    You can have these apples for free.
  8. to stare coldly; to stare at someone with the white of the eyes
    生氣一眼 [MSC, trad.]
    生气一眼 [MSC, simp.]
    Tā shēngqì dì bái le tā yīyǎn. [Pinyin]
    She gave him an angry stare.
  9. to explain; to present; to state
       bái   explain oneself, confess
    開場 / 开场   kāichǎngbái   preamble
       biǎobái   to explain oneself
    /    biànbái   to explain, to defend oneself
  10. to mispronounce or wrongly write a character
    老是讀破句 [MSC, trad.]
    老是读破句 [MSC, simp.]
    Wǒ lǎoshì xiě bái zì dúpòjù. [Pinyin]
    I always mispronounce words and break my sentences up in the wrong places.
    /    Wǒ bǎ zhè zì niàn bái le.   I've mispronounced the character.
  11. spoken lines in opera
       niànbái   spoken parts of a Chinese opera
       dàobái   spoken parts of a Chinese opera
    /    bái   monologue
    /    duìbái   dialogue
  12. dialect
    /    bái   Suzhou dialect
       jīngbái   Beijing dialect
  13. Short for 白讀白读 (báidú, “colloquial reading”).
  14. funeral
    喜事 / 喜事   hóngbáixǐshì   weddings and funerals
  15. A surname. Bai
Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
しろ
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana しろ, romaji shiro)

  1. white
  2. a white go stone
  3. innocence
Derived terms

Noun

(hiragana しら, romaji shira)

  1. white, Old Japanese pronunciation, now only seen in compounds
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
はく
Grade: 1
on'yomi

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana はく, romaji haku)

  1. white

Related terms

  •  (しろ) (shiroi) (Adjective form)
  •  (しら) () (shira o kiru)

See also

Colors in Japanese ·  (いろ) (iro) (layout · text)
      (あか) (aka)       (みどり) (midori)      黄色 (きいろ) (kiiro)      クリーム (いろ) (kurīmuiro)       (しろ) (shiro)
     深紅 (しんく) (shinku),
クリムゾン (kurimuzon),
紅色 (べにいろ) (beniiro),
紅色 (くれないいろ) (kurenaiiro)
     マゼンタ (mazenta)      ?      黄緑 (きみどり) (kimidori)      ピンク (pinku),
桃色 (ももいろ) (momoiro)
     ?       (あお) (ao)      オレンジ (orenji), 橙色 (だいだいいろ) (daidaiiro)      灰色 (はいいろ) (haiiro),
鼠色 (ねずみいろ) (nezumiiro)
     ?
      (くろ) (kuro)       (むらさき) (murasaki)      茶色 (ちゃいろ) (chairo),
褐色 (かっしょく) (kasshoku)
     水色 (みずいろ) (mizuiro)      シアン (shian)

References

  1. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  2. 1 2 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

(baek, pa)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): ,  (revised: baek, pa, McCune-Reischauer: paek, p'a, Yale: payk, pha)
  • Name (hangeul): 희다 (revised: huida, McCune-Reischauer: hŭida, Yale: huyta)
  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

See also


Vietnamese

Han character

白 (bạch, bạc)

Adjective

  1. white