芭 (bā): plantain (as in 芭蕉)

Meanings

1 plantain (as in 芭蕉)
2 used in transliterations (e.g. 芭蕾, ballet)

Characters

芭

bā

plantain; used in transliterations

Examples

她从小就学芭蕾舞。

Tā cóngxiǎo jiù xué bālěiwǔ.

She has studied ballet since she was little.

芭蕉叶又大又绿。

Bājiāo yè yòu dà yòu lǜ.

Plantain leaves are big and green.

Tips

usage

芭 rarely appears alone — it's almost always part of a compound: 芭蕉 (bājiāo, plantain), 芭蕾 (bālěi, ballet), or 芭比 (Bābǐ, Barbie).

memory

The grass radical 艹 on top tells you it's a plant. The bottom 巴 gives the sound bā.

Components

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant (top radical)

Top grass radical (3-stroke compressed form of 艸) — the indexing radical, anchoring 芭 in the botanical family. Used in plant names like 芭蕉 banana plant, 芭蕾 ballet (a phonetic loan from French, where the grass radical signals "imported foreign name" by convention).

phonetic

巴 bā

cling; expect (here phonetic)

Bottom 巴 supplies the sound — bā carried over directly. 巴 contributes no transparent meaning; in 芭 it works as a clean phonetic chosen for its sharp open vowel — useful for transliterating foreign syllables. Same phonetic appears in 把 to hold, 爸 dad, 吧 particle, 疤 scar.