Learn Chinese Characters 063 白

by Caren Zuo

白 (bái)

The ancient scripts look like a piece of rice. Someone judge that the character originally means “rice”. Later it was extended to mean “white” because of its color. Today “white” is the most dominant meaning of the character.

It has been a tradition for Chinese to wear a white suit for a funeral and a red one for a wedding. Today a white bridal veil is popular in urban cities of China.

Useful Phrases:

Level One：
白色 （bái sè）white color

白面 （bái miàn）usually refers to wheat flour

白菜 （bái cài）Chinese cabbage

白天 （bái tiān）daytime

Level Two:
白领 （bái lǐng）white-collar (worker)

白雪公主 （bái xuě ɡōng zhǔ）Snow White

白马王子 （bái mǎ wánɡ zǐ）prince riding a white horse

雪白 （xuě bái）as white as snow

粉白 （fěn bái）the color of peach blossom