HSK 6 · Verbs

掰 bāi “to break off with both hands” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 掰 means

  1. to break off with both hands
  2. to break off or break open sth with one’s hands
  3. (fig.) to break off (a relationship)

How to say 掰

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale掰bāi1st tone, high and level

掰 in a sentence

  1. 面条下锅前要先掰成小块。

    Miàntiáo xiàguō qián yào xiān bāi chéng xiǎo kuài.

    Break the noodles into small pieces before putting them in the pot.

    Sentence #3763520 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 掰 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 掰 (bāi) with each of its parts in a different colour
掰bāito break off or break open
  • 手hand · shǒu
  • 分to divide · fēn
  • 手hand · shǒu

How to write 掰

掰 12 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

掰 (bāi) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 掰 (bāi). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 掰

More words: Common Verbs

挨ái · to suffer安置ānzhì · to find a place for熬áo · to endure扒bā · to dig up拜访bàifǎng · to pay a visit败坏bàihuài · to ruin摆脱bǎituō · to break free from巴结bājie · to fawn on

FAQs

掰 (bāi) means “to break off with both hands” or “to break off or break open sth with one’s hands”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it bāi: bāi with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 掰 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 掰 from the suggestions. Typing bai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
掰 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.