把

Mandarin · pinyin bǎ#

Meanings · bǎ

  1. to hold; to grasp
  2. to hold a baby in position to help it urinate or defecate
  3. handlebar
  4. classifier: handful, bundle, bunch
  5. classifier for things with handles
  6. (used to put the object before the verb: 把 bǎ + {noun} + {verb})
Mandarin · pinyin bà#

Meanings · bà

  1. handle
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Characters in this entry

把
bǎ · hold, take; guard; regard as
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3 · ba3

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

baa2 · baa3

Cantonese word readings for 把. 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

  1. to hold; to grasp; to take
  2. to control; to dominate
  3. to guard; to have control over
  4. (colloquial) to be close; to be near
  5. to hold a baby while it relieves itself
  6. (traditional Chinese medicine) to feel (for the pulse)
  7. A light verb or preposition placed before the object of a sentence to allow it to be placed before the verb, giving greater flexibility in complex sentence construction.
  8. Used before a “subject + verb + complement” structure; to cause to; to make
  9. bundle; bunch
  10. handle; knob; grip (a part of an object which is held in the hand)
  11. stem (of a flower, leaf, fruit, etc.)
  12. Classifier for objects that can be held using handles or knobs, such as guns, chairs, brooms, or umbrellas. ⇒ all nouns using this classifier
  13. Classifier for handfuls of something, such as grains, soil.
  14. Classifier for bundles or bunches.
  15. Classifier for fire.
  16. Classifier for some abstract ideas, such as force, effort or age.
  17. Classifier for something done with the hand.
  18. Classifier for times of recreations.
  19. (Xiamen and Quanzhou Hokkien) Classifier for wheeled vehicles.
  20. Placed after numerals or classifiers to express uncertainty; approximately
  21. (archaic or dialectal Mandarin, Gan, Xiang) to give
  22. (Xiang) to; with (following verbs to indicate the handing over or passing of something)
  23. a surname

character

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 爬 (pá, “to scratch”)
  2. a surname

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

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

把 · ba3 · ba4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source lines 45,410, 45,411
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source records把 把 [ba3] /to hold; to grasp/to hold a baby in position to help it urinate or defecate/handlebar/classifier: handful, bundle, bunch/classifier for things with handles/(used to put the object before the verb: 把[ba3] + {noun} + {verb})/把 把 [ba4] /handle/