(bǎi): to arrange, to exhibit, to move to and fro

(bǎi) is a Chinese character meaning “to arrange.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1156 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, hand. Its radical form (hand) appears in many related characters such as (shǒu, hand), (, hit, make), (zhǎo, to look for).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to arrange
  2. to exhibit
  3. to move to and fro

Etymology & Origin

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌罢 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbbǎi tuōto break away from6
verbbǎi fàngto set up6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
bǎi píngto be fair
yáo bǎito sway
bǎi nòngto move back and forth
bǎi bùto arrange
yáo bǎi wǔswing (dance)
bǎi dòngto sway
bǎi shèto set out
míng bǎi zheevident
yáo bǎi bù dìngindecisive
bǎi jià zito put on airs
zhōng bǎipendulum
bǎi dùferry
xià bǎihem of a skirt
yáo yáo bǎi bǎiswaggering
bǎi tānto run a street stall
63
Total compounds
63
As first character
25
As last character
11
As middle character

appears in 63 compound words: 63 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 11 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

tuō
0.71018,670 co-occurrences
yáo
0.6475,544 co-occurrences
tān
0.5751,080 co-occurrences
0.4984,242 co-occurrences
piāo
0.494510 co-occurrences
qún
0.480779 co-occurrences
fàng
0.4125,544 co-occurrences
zhuō
0.409610 co-occurrences
pín
0.398420 co-occurrences
0.38496 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

bǎi le yī dàoHSK 6+

to play tricks on; to make a fool of

phrase
bǎi lóngménzhènHSK 6+

to chat; to gossip; to spin a yarn; to chew the rag

verb
dàyáodàbǎiHSK 6+

walking with an air of arrogance and nonchalance

phrase
西dōng yáo xī bǎiHSK 6+

(idiom) to sway from side to side; unsteady; (idiom) indecisive; hesitant

phrase
yáobǎibùdìngHSK 6+

to be irresolute; to shilly-shally

phrase
yáotóubǎiwěiHSK 6+

to be pleased with oneself; to be uppity

verb
yáo yáo bǎi bǎiHSK 6+

swaggering; staggering; waddling

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请把椅子放整齐,保持教室整洁。

Qǐng bǎ yǐzi bǎifàng zhěngqí, bǎochí jiàoshì zhěngjié.

Please arrange the chairs neatly and keep the classroom tidy.

NewsFeb 2026

...志|新游乐场用家为本 打造“好玩城市” 脱罐头式设计 反思痛点平衡营运压力

. . . zhì xīn yóu lè chǎng yòng jiā wéi běn dǎ zào hǎo wán chéng shì bǎi tuō guàn tóu shì shè jì fǎn sī tòng diǎn píng héng yíng yùn yā lì

... The new playground is user-oriented to create a "fun city" to get rid of canned design and reflect on pain points to balance operational pressure

NewsFeb 2026

《纽时》: 美国仍难脱对台湾晶片依赖

niǔ shí měi guó réng nán bǎi tuō duì tái wān jīng piàn yī lài

New York Times: The United States is still struggling to get rid of its dependence on Taiwan's chips

NewsFeb 2026

... 超微夺Meta大单飙涨8.8% 软体股脱抛售潮

. . . chāo wēi duó dà dān biāo zhǎng . ruǎn tǐ gǔ bǎi tuō pāo shòu cháo

... Supermicro won Meta's big order and soared 8.8%, and software stocks got rid of the sell-off

NewsFeb 2026

日本拆解废弃马达提炼稀土,冀脱依赖中国

rì běn chāi jiě fèi qì mǎ dá tí liàn xī tǔ , 冀 bǎi tuō yī lài zhōng guó

Japan dismantled abandoned motors to refine rare earths, hoping to get rid of dependence on China

NewsFeb 2026

美国土安全部陷停...2快速通关计画喊卡 航空业忧:旅客...

měi guó tǔ ān quán bù xiàn tíng bǎi . . . kuài sù tōng guān jì huà hǎn kǎ háng kōng yè yōu lǚ kè . . .

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Shutdown... Two Fast-Track Programs Halted; Aviation Industry Worries: Travelers...

Tatoeba

阿尔及利亚需要脱官僚主义。

ā'ěrjílìyà xūyào bǎituō guānliáozhǔyì.

Algeria needs to get rid of its bureaucracy.

Tatoeba

他让人们脱了奴役。

Tā ràng rénmen bǎituō le núyì.

He liberated the people from bondage.

Tatoeba

我怎么才能脱这种困境?

Wǒ zěnme cáinéng bǎituō zhèzhǒng kùnjìng?

How do I get out of this mess?

Tatoeba

"脱它, 当然!" 这个农夫回答。

"bǎituō tā, dāngrán!" zhège nóngfū huídá.

"Get rid of it, of course!" answered the farmer.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced bǎi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 摆 (bǎi) mean in Chinese?
摆 (bǎi) primarily means "to arrange." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1156 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 摆 have?
摆 is written with 13 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 摆?
The radical associated with 摆 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 摆?
摆 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 罢 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌罢 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 摆?
Common words with 摆 include: 摆脱 (bǎi tuō, "to break away from"); 摆平 (bǎi píng, "to be fair"); 摇摆 (yáo bǎi, "to sway"); 摆弄 (bǎi nòng, "to move back and forth"); 摆布 (bǎi bù, "to arrange"). There are over 63 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 摆 (bǎi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bǎi: 掰 (to break off or break open sth with one's hands), 白 (white), 百 (hundred), 柏 (Taiwan pr.), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 摆 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 摆 and the traditional form is 擺.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.