拜 (bài): to bow to, to pay one's respects, (bound form) to extend greetings (on a specific occasion), to make a courtesy call
拜 (bài) is a Chinese character meaning “to bow to.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 手 (structural) and 手 (structural). It ranks #1213 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 拜 two hands 手 put together in respect. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).
Definitions
- to bow to
- to pay one's respects
- (bound form) to extend greetings (on a specific occasion)
- to make a courtesy call
Etymology & Origin
ideographicTwo hands 手 put together in respect
Decomposition: ⿰手手 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 拜 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 拜
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 拜访verb | bài fǎng | to pay a visit | 6 |
| 崇拜verb | chóng bài | to worship | 6 |
| 拜年verb | bài nián | to pay a New Year call | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 拜托 | bài tuō | to request sb to do sth |
| 礼拜 | lǐ bài | to attend a religious service |
| 拜拜 | bái bái | (loanword) bye-bye |
| 崇拜者 | chóng bài zhě | worshipper |
| 迪拜 | dí bài | Dubai |
| 礼拜堂 | lǐ bài táng | chapel |
| 拜伦 | bài lún | George Byron (1788-1824), English poet |
| 礼拜天 | lǐ bài tiān | Sunday |
| 礼拜五 | lǐ bài wǔ | Friday |
| 礼拜六 | lǐ bài liù | Saturday |
| 做礼拜 | zuò lǐ bài | to worship |
| 拜倒 | bài dǎo | to prostrate oneself |
| 礼拜一 | lǐ bài yī | Monday |
| 拜读 | bài dú | (polite) to read (sth) |
| 礼拜三 | lǐ bài sān | Wednesday |
拜 appears in 86 compound words: 45 as the first character, 29 as the last, and 26 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 拜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (6)
Example Sentences
他拜了一个电话，约朋友晚上一起吃饭。
tā bài le yī gě diàn huà , yāo péng yǒu wǎn shǎng yī qǐ chī fàn .
He made a phone call to invite his friends out for dinner that evening.
初九拜天公8点禁忌!踩雷衰运整年 天公是谁、最...
chū jiǔ bài tiān gōng 8 diǎn jīn jì ! cǎi léi shuāi yùn zhěng nián tiān gōng shì shéi , zuì . . .
The ninth day of the first month is taboo at 8 o'clock to worship the gods! Stepping on thunder and bad luck all year round, who is the heavens, the most...
初九天公生这时拜最旺 供品、禁忌一次看
chū jiǔ tiān gōng shēng zhè shí bài zuì wàng gōng pǐn , jīn jì yī cì kàn
On the ninth day of the first month, Gongsheng worshipped the most prosperous offerings at this time, and the taboo was seen at once
初九“天公生” 素供品诚心敬拜 小心3大地雷 误踩恐衰整年
chū jiǔ tiān gōng shēng sù gōng pǐn chéng xīn jìng bài xiǎo xīn 3 dà dì léi wù cǎi kǒng shuāi zhěng nián
On the ninth day of the first month, "Tiangong Sheng" vegetarian offerings worship sincerely, beware of 3 major landmines, and mistakenly step on them for fear of decline throughout the year
周吉佩新春团拜 三地粉丝聚首一堂庆祝
zhōu jí pèi xīn chūn tuán bài sān dì fěn sī jù shǒu yī táng qìng zhù
Zhou Jipei's New Year group visit Fans from the three places gathered together to celebrate
年初八拜天公是否可燃放爆竹 胡栋强促倪可敏交代
nián chū bā bài tiān gōng shì fǒu kě rán fàng bào zhú hú dòng qiáng cù 倪 kě mǐn jiāo dài
On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, whether it is possible to set off firecrackers Hu Dong forced Ni Kemin to explain
我昨天拜访了托尼。
Wǒ zuótiān bàifǎng le tuō ní.
I visited Tony yesterday.
无知是恐惧之母，也是崇拜之母。
Wúzhī shì kǒngjù zhī mǔ, yě shì chóngbài zhī mǔ.
Ignorance is the mother of fear as well as of admiration.
拜托不会有人想到孩子们吗?!
Bàituō bù huì yǒurén xiǎngdào háizimen ma?!
Won't somebody please think of the children?!
礼拜五下午有空吗？
Lǐbàiwǔ xiàwǔ yǒu kòng ma?
Are you free on Friday afternoon?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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