坝 (bà): (used in place names) plain, flatland, (dialect) sandbar, shoal, dam

坝 (bà) is a Chinese character meaning “(used in place names) plain.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 土 (semantic) and 贝 (phonetic). It ranks #2622 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 坝 earth. Its radical form 土 (earth) appears in many related characters such as 在 (zài, to exist), 地 (dì, earth, ground), 场 (chǎng, field, place).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (used in place names) plain
  2. flatland
  3. (dialect) sandbar
  4. shoal
  5. dam

Etymology & Origin

坝

pictophoneticearth

Decomposition: ⿰土贝 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Practice writing 坝 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
水坝nounshuǐ bàdam
大坝noundà bàdam
堤坝noundī bàdam
阿坝藏族羌族自治州proper-nounā bà zàng zú qiāng zú zì zhì zhōuNgawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, in Sichuan Province 四川省
向家坝xiàng jiā bàXiangjiaba Dam, Yunnan, site of a hydropower station
平坝区píng bà qūPingba, a district of Anshun City 安順市|安顺市, Guizhou
阿斯旺高坝proper-nounā sī wàng gāo bàthe Aswan dam in south Egypt
三峡大坝sān xiá dà bàThree Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River
绿坝·花季护航lǜ bà · huā jì hù hángGreen Dam Youth Escort, Internet content-control software, in use during 2009-2010 (abbr. to 綠壩|绿坝)
阿坝州ā bà zhōusee 阿壩藏族羌族自治州|阿坝藏族羌族自治州
边坝县biān bà xiànBanbar, a county in Chamdo City 昌都市, Tibet
平坝nounpíng bàsee 平壩區|平坝区
留坝县liú bà xiànLiuba, a county in Hanzhong City 漢中市|汉中市, Shaanxi
边坝biān bàsee 邊壩縣|边坝县
阿坝县ā bà xiànNgawa, a county in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture 阿壩藏族羌族自治州|阿坝藏族羌族自治州[A1 ba4 Zang4 zu2 Qiang1 zu2 Zi4 ...
29
Total compounds
0
As first character
72
As last character
28
As middle character

坝 appears in 29 compound words: 0 as the first character, 72 as the last, and 28 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 坝 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

堤dī
0.5961,153 co-occurrences
溃kuì
0.546573 co-occurrences
拦lán
0.507452 co-occurrences
坪píng
0.4891,102 co-occurrences
顶dǐng
0.4671,348 co-occurrences
峡xiá
0.467538 co-occurrences
溢yì
0.450294 co-occurrences
闸zhá
0.440290 co-occurrences
水shuǐ
0.4377,282 co-occurrences
拱gǒng
0.433440 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

坝豆是东北地区的主要农作物之一。

bà dòu shì dōng běi dì ōu de zhǔ yāo nóng zuò wù zhī yī .

Soybeans are one of the primary crops in Northeast China.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

近日,在北京东坝万达影城,一位带着宠物前来观影的观众开启了一场特别的观影体验。

jìn rì , zài běi jīng dōng bà wàn dá yǐng chéng , yī wèi dài zhe chǒng wù qián lái guàn yǐng de guàn zhòng kāi qǐ le yī chǎng tè bié de guàn yǐng tǐ yàn .

Recently, at the Wanda Cinema in Dongba, Beijing, a moviegoer who brought their pet to the theater enjoyed a special movie-watching experience.

TvbsMar 2026

夏威夷遇20年最惨洪灾!120年水坝恐溃堤 损失逾十亿美金

xià wēi yí yù 2 0 nián zuì cǎn hóng zāi ! 1 2 0 nián shuǐ bà kǒng kuì dī sǔn shī yú shí yì měi jīn

Hawaii Hit by Worst Flooding in 20 Years! 120-Year-Old Dam at Risk of Collapsing; Damage Exceeds $1 Billion

StheadlineMar 2026

...夏威夷暴雨连环来袭 5500人急撤百年水坝或溃堤

. . . xià wēi yí bào yǔ lián huán lái xí 5 5 0 0 rén jí chè bǎi nián shuǐ bà huò kuì dī

...Hawaii Hit by a Series of Heavy Rainstorms; 5,500 Evacuated as Centuries-Old Dam Threatens to Breach

The Beijing NewsMar 2026

安德大街跨坝河桥迎来新进展,下周临时通车

ān dé dà jiē kuà bà hé qiáo yíng lái xīn jìn zhǎn , xià zhōu lín shí tōng chē

New progress on the Ande Street Bridge over the Bahe River; temporary opening scheduled for next week

BastillepostMar 2026

夏威夷水坝恐溃堤逾4千人急撤 洪水淹浸街道车辆

xià wēi yí shuǐ bà kǒng kuì dī yú 4 qiān rén jí chè hóng shuǐ yān jìn jiē dào chē liàng

Over 4,000 Evacuated as Hawaii Dam Faces Collapse; Floodwaters Submerge Streets and Vehicles

Tatoeba

堤坝保护了城市免受洪灾。

Dībà bǎohù le chéngshì miǎnshòu hóngzāi.

The bank secured the city from a flood.

Tatoeba

这个水坝给我们提供水和电。

Zhège shuǐbà gěi wǒmen tígōng shuǐ hé diàn.

This dam supplies us with water and electricity.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced bà

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 坝 (bà) mean in Chinese?
坝 (bà) primarily means "(used in place names) plain." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2622 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 坝 and 败?
坝 (bà) and 败 (bài) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 土 vs 贝 (same 贝 component).
How many strokes does 坝 have?
坝 is written with 7 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 坝?
The radical associated with 坝 is 土 (earth). This radical appears in many characters related to earth.
What are the components of 坝?
坝 is composed of: 土 (semantic), 贝 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰土贝 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 坝?
Common words with 坝 include: 水坝 (shuǐ bà, "dam"); 大坝 (dà bà, "dam"); 堤坝 (dī bà, "dam"); 阿坝藏族羌族自治州 (ā bà zàng zú qiāng zú zì zhì zhōu, "Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, in Sichuan Province 四川省"); 向家坝 (xiàng jiā bà, "Xiangjiaba Dam, Yunnan, site of a hydropower station"). There are over 29 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 坝 (bà)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bà: 把 (to hold, measure word), 吧 (suggestion particle), 八 (eight), 巴 (Ba, a state during the Zhou dynasty (in present-day Chongqing and the eastern part of Sichuan)), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 坝 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 坝 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 坝 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.