八bā

八

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繁体

Traditional Chinese

八 (bā, "eight") appears unchanged from oracle bone script, where it depicted two diverging lines — a pictograph of division that later took on the numerical meaning. As a radical, it appears in characters of separation and distribution: 分 (divide), 公 (public), 典 (classic). The visual logic of branching persists even in compounds where the original form has been obscured.

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Shuowen

八. The oracle bone 八 depicts two lines branching outward like the breath of life dividing and flowing in opposite directions. This pictograph originally meant 'to divide' and later was borrowed for the numeral eight.

Pinyin

bā· HSK 1

八bā

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin