The character 拜 — “bow”: how to write it and what it means

拜
bài

bow; pay a visit

9 strokes · HSK 6

The Chinese character 拜 is read bài and means “bow; pay a visit”. Below: the stroke order step by step, what the character is made of and the words it appears in.

Stroke order: how to write 拜

拜 has 9 strokes. At each step the new stroke is highlighted — write them in the same order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical, a frame before what is inside it, and the bottom stroke of the frame last.

To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for 拜, with strokes to trace and empty squares.

What 拜 is made of

On the left you can see 手 “hand”: people bowed with their hands joined.

The parts of a character hint at its meaning or its reading — more in the article “Chinese character radicals”.

Words with 拜

Frequently asked questions

How do you write the character 拜?

拜 has 9 strokes. They follow the usual rules: top to bottom, left to right, horizontal before vertical, outside before inside. The order of each stroke is shown on this page.

What does 拜 mean?

拜 means “bow; pay a visit”. It appears in 拜访 (“pay a visit”), 崇拜 (“worship”), 拜年 (“pay a New Year call”).

How do you pronounce 拜?

拜 is read bài. The tone is part of the reading: with another melody it becomes another syllable.

How many strokes does 拜 have?

9 strokes.

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More characters on the page “Chinese characters with meanings” and in the list of HSK characters by level; whole words are in the dictionary.

Write 拜 yourself

In the lessons you write characters stroke by stroke with a finger or a mouse, and the course checks the order. You can start for free, no sign-up needed.

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