巴

Cantonese · source Jyutpingbaa1

Meanings

  1. to long for
  2. to wish
  3. to cling to
  4. to stick to
  5. sth that sticks
  6. close to
  7. next to
  8. spread open
  9. informal abbr. for bus 巴士
  10. bar (unit of pressure)
  11. nominalizing suffix on certain nouns, such as 尾巴, tail
  12. part of a place name
  13. crust that has formed as a result of heat or dryness
  14. a quantifier for the number of slaps
  15. a slap
  16. arrogant
  17. flashy
  18. impressive
About these definitions

Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.

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Reading & tones

Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.

Same syllable, six tones

Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.

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Written characters

Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.

Cantonese characters and the Mandarin bridge ↗

Mandarin comparison · separate source entries

CC-CEDICT, the Mandarin–English dictionary, lists the same written form:

  • 巴 Bā CC-CEDICT · MandarinBa, a state during the Zhou dynasty (in present-day Chongqing and the eastern part of Sichuan); the east of Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality; surname Ba; (bound form) abbr. for 巴勒斯坦 Bā lè sī tǎn (Palestine), 巴基斯坦 Bā jī sī tǎn (Pakistan) or 巴西 Bā xī (Brazil)
  • 巴 bā CC-CEDICT · Mandarinto long for; to wish; to cling to; to stick to; sth that sticks; close to; next to; spread open; …

A separate source entry, shown for comparison. The same characters can carry different senses in Mandarin and in Cantonese; zimai does not align these senses.

CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: ba1. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.

Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 32 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

baa1

Cantonese word readings for 巴. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character · Etymology 1

  1. (Classical) python (snake)
  2. (ancient Chinese mythology) a huge snake that could swallow an elephant
  3. to greatly desire; to anxiously hope; to long for
  4. Used as a suffix for objects that are located below or behind.
  5. Used as a suffix for objects that are clumped together due to dryness or stickiness.
  6. to cling to; to stick to
  7. (Jilu Mandarin, Sichuanese, dialectal Wu) to be close to; to be next to
  8. (Beijing Mandarin, Jilu Mandarin) to open; to spread
  9. (Sichuanese) to suit; to fit
  10. (Sichuanese) to follow
  11. (Sichuanese) to be intimate
  12. (Sichuanese) to involve; to implicate
  13. (Sichuanese) to kiss up; to curry favour
  14. (Sichuanese) to subsidize
  15. (Sichuanese) to infect; to contract
  16. (dialectal Mandarin, including Beijing Mandarin, Shandong Mandarin, Xinjiang Mandarin) to sew; to stitch on
  17. (Southwestern Mandarin; Xiamen and Quanzhou Hokkien) dried object
  18. (dialectal Mandarin, Cantonese) Classifier for the number of slaps.
  19. (Jiaoliao Mandarin, Sichuanese) along
  20. (historical) Ba (an ancient state in modern-day Sichuan)
  21. eastern Sichuan and Chongqing
  22. Used in transcription.
  23. (abbreviation, alt-of) Used in transcription. — short for 巴士 (bāshì, “bus”)
  24. Used in transcription. — (physics) bar (unit of pressure)
  25. Used in transcription. — (Cantonese) bar (Classifier: 條/条 c)
  26. (abbreviation, alt-of) Used in transcription. — short for 巴勒斯坦 (Bālèsītǎn, “Palestine”)
  27. (abbreviation, alt-of) Used in transcription. — short for 巴基斯坦 (Bājīsītǎn, “Pakistan”)
  28. (abbreviation, alt-of) Used in transcription. — short for 巴拿馬/巴拿马 (Bānámǎ, “Panama”)
  29. (abbreviation, alt-of) Used in transcription. — short for 巴哈馬/巴哈马 (Bāhāmǎ, “The Bahamas”)
  30. (abbreviation, alt-of) Used in transcription. — short for 巴拉圭 (Bālāguī, “Paraguay”)
  31. a surname

character · Etymology 2

  1. (colloquial) A suffix used after monosyllabic verbs, often gives the verb a sense of nonchalance.

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

CC-Canto · Pleco Inc. · edition 2017-02-02
Source line 27,681 · Original publisher · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Edition & transformations

Original source comment: adapted from cc-cedict

Mandarin comparison: CC-CEDICT 2026-10-13, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source reading differences and six-tone sets: computed by zimai from Unihan 17.0.0 (Unicode License V3).

Exact source record & identity巴 巴 [ba1] {baa1} /to long for/to wish/to cling to/to stick to/sth that sticks/close to/next to/spread open/informal abbr. for bus 巴士bāshì [巴士]/bar (unit of pressure)/nominalizing suffix on certain nouns, such as 尾巴wěiba [尾巴], tail/part of a place name/crust that has formed as a result of heat or dryness/a quantifier for the number of slaps/a slap/arrogant/flashy/impressive/ # adapted from cc-cedict

SHA-256: 88adf98581d2b66ddf08e441a87be2bb88bb7de8f66dd96f119ed42f9927109a