white
purebrightblankclearin vainfree of charge
adjective / noun / surnameNeutral#color#purity#state#surname
Sample Usage
这件衣服是白色的。
Zhè jiàn yīfu shì bái sè de.
This piece of clothing is white.
白跑了一趟。
Bái pǎo le yí tàng.
Made the trip for nothing (in vain).
白
báibai2
|++´(35)
=bái Type: Unaspirated Bilabial
Sounds like: b as in boy
Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air. A tissue in front of lips should stay still.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Both lips pressed together, releasing without a strong puff of air.
Vowel Group: -a vowel group
Sounds like: ai rhymes with high or pie
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'eye'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 starts at mid pitch and rises sharply to high pitch, matching an inquisitive English tone.
Sandhi: When followed by a Tone 4 syllable, it changes to a half-rising tone.
👂Listening trap: Do not confuse with the 4th tone 'bài', which drops sharply.
👋Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 2 rises like a questioning upward inflection in English, e.g., 'What?'
Topology: Single character · Strokes: 5 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Centered and vertically balanced, with the top short stroke centered above the box-like lower enclosure.
Radical 白 · White Radical (white)
A short vertical stroke or dot on top of the sun character (日) representing a ray of light shining down, making everything bright and white.
- 丿 Top short stroke/dot representing light ray
- 日 Sun or brightness base
Liushu category: Pictogram (象形)
Origin: Originally depicted the shape of a thumb or a shining flame/sun ray, symbolizing bright light and clarity.
Semantic Evolution: From bright sunlight to the color white, and further extended to mean clear, plain, and pure.
- In ancient China, white was often the color worn during periods of mourning.
- It serves as a very common Chinese surname (Bai).
🇻🇳Sino-Vietnamese
bạch
Corresponds to the heavy rising/glottalized tone in Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary.
🇯🇵Kanji (Japanese)
On: Haku, Byaku / Kun: shiro
Sound Shift Bridge: Shared East Asian root vocabulary connecting 'bái' to 'haku' and 'baek'.
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Imagine a brilliant white ray of sunshine (top dot) shining down on a bright sun (日), making the entire landscape completely white and pure.
伯bóelder uncle / countAdd human radical (亻) to indicate an elder person.
柏bǎicypress treeAdd wood radical (木) to indicate the cypress tree.
拍pāito pat / clapAdd hand radical (扌) to indicate hand actions.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
日(rì)
'日' is the sun without the top dot/stroke, and means sun or day.
百(bǎi)
'百' has a horizontal stroke closing the top, meaning one hundred.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge 这张纸是[___]色的。
Clue: bái
Common Learner PitfallConfusing '白' (bái - white) with '百' (bǎi - hundred) by accidentally adding the top horizontal line.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: What does 白 (bái) mean and how is it pronounced?
Production: How do you write the character for 'white' with 5 strokes?
Speed: Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...