吧 (ba): suggestion particle
吧 (ba) is a Chinese character meaning “suggestion particle.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 巴 (phonetic). It ranks #470 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 吧 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).
Definitions
- suggestion particle
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 吧 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 吧
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 网吧noun | wǎng bā | Internet café |
| 吧嗒adverb | bā da | (onom.) patter, splatter, click |
| 你看着办吧 | nǐ kàn zhe bàn ba | You figure it out for yourself. |
| 吧主noun | bā zhǔ | message board moderator or administrator |
| 吧女noun | bā nǚ | barmaid |
| 吧务 | bā wù | forum manager |
| 阿西吧interjection | ā xī ba | aw, fuck! (loanword from Korean 아! 씨발!) |
| 吧台noun | bā tái | counter of a bar (pub) |
| 吧托女 | bā tuō nǚ | scam girl |
| 吧托 | bā tuō | scam girl |
| 迪斯科吧 | dí sī kē bā | discotheque |
| 省省吧 | shěng sheng ba | (coll.) Don't waste your breath. |
| 吧啦吧啦 | bā lā bā lā | (loanword) blah blah blah |
| 歇了吧 | xiē le ba | (dialect) give me a break! |
| 大氧吧 | dà yǎng bā | source of oxygen (of forests and nature reserves) |
吧 appears in 23 compound words: 43 as the first character, 57 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 吧 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
时间不早了，我们回去吧，明天还要上班。
Shíjiān bù zǎo le, wǒmen huíqu ba, míngtiān hái yào shàngbān.
It's getting late; let's go back. We have work tomorrow.
警元朗捣无牌酒吧 拘男负责人及54名男女酒客
jǐng yuán lǎng dǎo wú pái jiǔ ba jū nán fù zé rén jí 5 4 míng nán nǚ jiǔ kè
Police Raid Unlicensed Bar in Yuen Long, Detain Male Manager and 54 Patrons
来酒吧找朋友...不消费遭店家赶出门 女在门口...
lái jiǔ ba zhǎo péng yǒu . . . bù xiāo fèi zāo diàn jiā gǎn chū mén nǚ zài mén kǒu . . .
Come to the bar to find a friend... If you don't consume, you will be kicked out of the store, and the woman is at the door...
...食大全可行吗?麦芽糖本身含糖不算无糖食品吧
. . . shí dà quán kě háng ma ? mài yá táng běn shēn hán táng bù suàn wú táng shí pǐn ba
Is a maltose-based diet feasible? Maltose itself contains sugar, so it's not exactly a sugar-free food, right?
...日本舉行聯合軍演 美國回應:那我們自己來吧
. . . rì běn 舉 háng 聯 gě 軍 yǎn měi 國 huí 應 nà wǒ 們 zì jǐ 來 ba
Japan Holds Joint Military Drills U.S. Response: Then We'll Do It Ourselves
...截成績表」反害慘弟弟 網民一面倒:故意的吧?
. . . jié chéng 績 biǎo fǎn hài 慘 dì dì 網 mín yī miàn dǎo gù yì de ba ?
...Cutting the report card backfired on his younger brother. Netizens overwhelmingly reacted: "Did he do it on purpose?"
你是在跟我开玩笑吧？！
Nǐ shì zài gēn wǒ kāiwánxiào ba?!
Are you freaking kidding me?!
我希望没打扰到你吧？
Wǒ xīwàng méi dǎrǎo dào nǐ ba?
I hope I'm not disturbing you.
我们休息一下吧，好吗？
Wǒmen xiūxi yīxià ba, hǎo ma?
Let's break off, shall we?
今晚七点老地方见。没问题吧？
Jīnwǎn qī diǎn lǎodìfāng jiàn. méiwèntí ba?
Can you make it to our usual place at 7:00 p.m. tonight?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 吧 (ba) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 吧 and 爬?
How many strokes does 吧 have?
What is the radical of 吧?
What are the components of 吧?
What are common words containing 吧?
What characters sound the same as 吧 (ba)?
Is 吧 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 吧 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.