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白髮

简白发 · 繁白髮

Mandarin · pinyin bái fà

white or gray hair
Classifier: 根 gēn

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Characters in this entry

白: bái · white; pure, unblemished; bright
髮: fà · fǎ · hair
发: fā · issue, dispatch, send out; hair

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–4 · bai2 fa4

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3character links1same-tone record1source reference

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

白髮 · find source passages ↗ · 白发 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

white hair; grey hair (Classifier: 根 m)
(metonymic) elderly; senior

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

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