Meaning
to clap; to pat; to beat; to hit; to slap; to take (a picture)
Chinese: 拍打、拍击;也指拍子、节拍、拍摄。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “pai” becomes a different word in each tone. 拍 is the 1st tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 拍照pāi zhàoto take a picture
- 拍摄pāi shèto take (a picture); to shoot (a film)
- 球拍qiú pāi(tennis, badminton etc) racket; (table tennis) paddle; (cricket) bat
- 拍卖pāi màito auction; auction sale; to sell at a reduced price
- 拍戏pāi xìto shoot a movie
Example Sentence
我们在花前拍了几张照片。Wǒ men zài huā qián pāi le jǐ zhāng zhào piàn.We took a few photos in front of the flowers.
我们Wǒ menwe在zàiat花huāflower前qiánfront拍pāito pat了le(completed action)几jǐsmall table张zhāngto open up照片zhào piànphotograph。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The hand radical 扌 (meaning) plus 白 (bái, sound): to strike lightly with the hand — ‘to clap / pat / beat’.
A way to remember it
A hand (扌) + the sound 白 — to clap.
Easy to confuse with
- 怕‘Afraid’: shares the 白 sound, but with the heart radical 忄 — clap vs fear.