拍 (pāi) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

拍

pāi[pai1]Tone 1

to pat, clap, take a photo

HSK 3

Guru Deep Dive

English · to pat, clap, take a photo

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:8

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (扌) should be narrower and slightly elevated, leaving ample room for the right phonetic component (白) to maintain balance without crowding.

1. Meaning

to pat, to clap, to slap

to swat (an insect)to take a photo or shoot a filmracket in sports (e.g., tennis racket)musical beat or rhythm

Verb / NounNeutral#actions#photography#sports#music

Sample Usage

请不要拍照片。
Qǐng bù yào pāi zhàopiàn.
Please do not take photos.
他拍了拍我的肩膀。
Tā pāile pāi wǒ de jiānbǎng.
He patted me on the shoulder.

2. Sound

/[pʰaɪ̯⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

拍

pāipai1

¯(55)

=pāi

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: p sound as in 'pat'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Strong puff of air! A tissue held before lips MUST fly forward.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips closed tightly, releasing a strong puff of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -ai rhymes with 'eye' or 'pie'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'eye'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is a high, steady pitch, similar to the flat musical note you hold when saying 'mhm?' in agreement or testing a microphone with a flat 'Aaaaaah'.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the high flat Tone 1 with Tone 4 (pài), which drops sharply downwards.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Keep your hand completely flat and steady at eye level, like drawing a straight horizontal line across the sky.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (扌) should be narrower and slightly elevated, leaving ample room for the right phonetic component (白) to maintain balance without crowding.

4. Components

Radical 扌 · Hand radical (Hand action or manual labor)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (Indicates an action performed with the hand (patting, slapping, clapping))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 白 (original sound: bái)

A hand (扌) reaches out to touch something white (白), or simply uses the sound of 'bái' adjusted to 'pāi' while employing the hand radical to show a physical slapping motion.

扌 Hand radical indicating hitting or patting
白 Provides the phonetic clue

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

13· Phonetic Root: 白 (bái)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) to represent manual hitting or patting, and (白) to give an approximate phonetic reading.

Semantic Evolution: Originally meant to strike or beat with the hand. Over time, extended to clapping, swatting bugs, taking photographs ('striking' an image), and musical beats.

The modern use for taking photos comes from 'striking' or capturing a moment instantly with a hand motion on a camera shutter.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You use your HAND (扌) to PAI-nt or PAT a WHITE (白) canvas or clap your hands loudly.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

怕

pàto fearUses the heart radical (忄) instead of the hand radical because fear is an emotion felt in the heart.

柏

bǎicypress treeUses the wood radical (木) because trees are made of wood.

泊

pōanchorage / lakeUses the water radical (氵) because lakes and anchorages involve water.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

怕(pà)

拍 has the hand radical (扌) for actions, while 怕 has the heart radical (忄) for feelings of fear.

柏(bǎi)

拍 uses the hand radical (扌) for hitting/clapping, whereas 柏 uses the wood radical (木) for trees.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

请不要忘记录下美景，多[___]几张照片。

Clue: pāi

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the hand radical (扌) with the heart radical (忄), turning 拍 (to pat/take photos) into 怕 (to fear).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 拍 mean and how is it pronounced with tone?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to take a photo or clap' (pāi)?

拍pāito pat, clap, take a photo

Speed:

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