百 bǎi — hundred; numerous, all kinds of
bǎi (third tone, dipping)
hundred; numerous, all kinds of
6 strokesRadical 白Frequency #349
Pinyin
- bǎi (third tone, dipping)
hundred; numerous, all kinds of
Character breakdown
Ideographic description
⿱一白The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.
- 一meaning partno entry yetThe numeral one, added on top to mark the character as a number.
- 白sound part白 bái is here for its sound alone (bái → bǎi), not for whiteness.
Mnemonic
One 一 written over 白: the lower half carries the sound (bái → bǎi) and the stroke on top marks the thing as a number. From here the numbers stack — 一百, 两百, 三百 — and 百 also does duty for "every kind of": 百货商店, a department store, is literally a shop of a hundred goods.
A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.