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拜

bài
verb #2,143

Meanings

  1. 1 to bow
  2. 2 to worship
  3. 3 to pay respect

Examples

HSK 1
大家都来拜年了。
Dàjiā dōu lái bàinián le.
Everyone came to pay New Year's respects.
HSK 6
我们去拜访老师吧。
Wǒmen qù bàifǎng lǎoshī ba.
Let's go visit the teacher.

Tips

usage
Common in 拜访 (bàifǎng, to visit) and 崇拜 (chóngbài, to worship).

Components

radical
手 shǒu
hand (radical)
Left hand - the indexing radical, drawn as a stylised four-fingered palm with a wrist. To bow in worship in classical China was a two-handed gesture: hands joined and head lowered. The radical anchors 拜 in the family of hand-gesture verbs and ceremonies (拜访 visit, 崇拜 worship).
semantic
手 shǒu
hand (semantic)
Right hand - the second hand, drawn slightly fuller than the left (5 strokes here vs standalone 4) because it carries an extra horizontal recording an old graphic detail. Two hands together depict the formal cupped-hand bow. 拜 is a doubled-hand compound ideograph - both halves carry meaning.

Stroke Order

拜 bài