白

白 (radical 106, 白+0, 5 strokes, cangjie input 竹日 (HA), four-corner 2600₀, composition ⿱丿日)

1. Kangxi radical #106, ⽩.

• Index:Chinese radical/白
• 柏
• 習 (in current form)

• KangXi: page 785, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 22678
• Dae Jaweon: page 1196, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2642, character 1
• Unihan data for U+767D

Historical forms of the character 白
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – 白 is a pictogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. There are several myths and theories explaining the origin of the object how its pictograph came to represent the meaning of white. One of the theories goes with an acorn which has a white flesh inside and the flesh was used as a white color pigment. Another one goes with a skull which was much more familiar objects before human bodies started to be buried in a grave in an ancient China. [1] or the other one goes with a nail of thumb that has a crescent-shaped whitish area.[2] 白 also indicates “clear” as white can be a color of “clear”. This came from the myths that 白 was a moving and folded tongue of a person who speaks very clearly, or 白 was a flam of the burning candle which clears up space with its lightness. However, no one is able to prove the truth of this ancient word 白. These 5 sculptures are depicting the shape of white which had lost its original meaning. [3]

Either from

• Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bawk (“white”); cognate with Mün Chin bok, Daai Chin ɓɔ́ːk, Garo bok-a, Limbu [script needed] (phɔ) (STEDT) (confer Proto-Mon-Khmer *kɓɔɔk (“white, grey”)).

  still, Schuessler found *bawk's and its descendants' lack of medial -r- difficult to reconcile with Sinitic

• or from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bʷar ~ *pʷar (“burn, fire”) with -k extension, from immediate *bar-k (Schuessler, 2007); cognate with 皤 (OC *paːl, *baːl) "white", Mizo váar (“white, bright”), Proto-Karenic *ʔ(b)wa "white".

However, STEDT assigns:

• váar to sub-root *hwa(ː)r ⪤ *yar
• *ʔ(b)wa to *b/s-wa
• 燔 (OC *ban) to *bʷar ~ *pʷar
• 皤 (OC *paːl, *baːl) to "pan-allofamic" root *(p/b/h)(w/y)a(ː)(r/l/n/t), all three above being its variants.

白

1. white

   白色  ―  báisè  ―  white color

   白茶  ―  báichá  ―  white tea

2. clear; easy to understand

   明白  ―  míngbai  ―  clear, obvious

   淺白 / 浅白  ―  qiǎnbái  ―  simple

3. clear; pure; plain; blank

   白紙 / 白纸  ―  báizhǐ  ―  a blank sheet of paper

   白水  ―  báishuǐ  ―  plain water

   白粥  ―  báizhōu  ―  plain congee

4. vernacular

   白話 / 白话  ―  báihuà  ―  spoken language

5. dialect

   蘇白 / 苏白  ―  sūbái  ―  Suzhou dialect

   京白  ―  jīngbái  ―  Beijing dialect

6. Short for 白讀／白读 (báidú, “colloquial reading”).
7. reactionary; anticommunist

   白軍 / 白军  ―  báijūn  ―  The White army

   白區 / 白区  ―  báiqū  ―  The White area

   白色恐怖  ―  báisèkǒngbù  ―  the White terror

8. in vain; for nothing

   我們沒有白忙。 / 我们没有白忙。  ―  Wǒmen méiyǒu bái máng.  ―  Our efforts were not in vain.

   她白等了。  ―  Tā bái děng le.  ―  She waited in vain.

   他們的血沒有白流。 [MSC, trad.]
   他们的血没有白流。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tāmen de xuè méiyǒu bái liú. [Pinyin]

   Their blood was not shed in vain.

   所有的工作都白做了。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Suǒyǒu de gōngzuò dōu bái zuò le. [Pinyin]

   All the work has been done for nothing.

   白來一趟 / 白来一趟  ―  bái lái yītàng  ―  to come in vain; to come for nothing

   白給的東西 / 白给的东西  ―  báigěi de dōngxi  ―  something given for nothing

9. free of charge; gratuitous; gratis

   你可以白拿走這些蘋果。 [MSC, trad.]
   你可以白拿走这些苹果。 [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ kěyǐ bái názǒu zhè xiē píngguǒ. [Pinyin]

   You can have these apples for free.

10. to stare coldly; to stare at someone with the white of the eyes

    她生氣地白了他一眼。 [MSC, trad.]
    她生气地白了他一眼。 [MSC, simp.]

    Tā shēngqì de bái le tā yīyǎn. [Pinyin]

    She gave him an angry stare.

11. to explain; to present; to state

    自白  ―  zìbái  ―  explain oneself, confess

    開場白 / 开场白  ―  kāichǎngbái  ―  preamble

    表白  ―  biǎobái  ―  to explain oneself

    辯白 / 辩白  ―  biànbái  ―  to explain, to defend oneself

12. to mispronounce or wrongly write a character

    我老是寫白字讀破句。 [MSC, trad.]
    我老是写白字读破句。 [MSC, simp.]

    Wǒ lǎoshì xiě bái zì dúpòjù. [Pinyin]

    I always mispronounce words and break my sentences up in the wrong places.

    我把這字念白了。 / 我把这字念白了。  ―  Wǒ bǎ zhè zì niàn bái le.  ―  I've mispronounced the character.

13. spoken lines

    念白  ―  niànbái  ―  spoken parts of a Chinese opera

    道白  ―  dàobái  ―  spoken parts of a Chinese opera

    獨白 / 独白  ―  dúbái  ―  monologue

    對白 / 对白  ―  duìbái  ―  dialogue

    （白）無言獨上西樓，月如鉤…… [MSC, trad.]
    （白）无言独上西楼，月如钩…… [MSC, simp.]

    (bái) Wúyán dú shàng xīlóu, yuè rú gōu...... [Pinyin]

    (spoken:) Without words, I ascend the western tower by myself; the moon is like a hook […]
    (as may be displayed in the lyrics to Teresa Teng's “Du shang xilou” (獨上西樓))

14. funeral

    紅白喜事 / 红白喜事  ―  hóngbáixǐshì  ―  weddings and funerals

15. A surname​. Bai

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: びゃく (byaku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: はく (haku, Jōyō)
• Sō-on: ぱい (pai)
• Kun: しろ (shiro, 白, Jōyō); しろい (shiroi, 白い, Jōyō); しら (shira, 白, Jōyō, uncommon); もうす (mōsu, 白す)

From Old Japanese *siro₁- ~ sira[4]

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) し​ろ [shíꜜrò] (Atamadaka – [1])[5][6]
  • IPA^(key): [ɕiɾo̞]

白 (hiragana しろ, rōmaji shiro)

1. white (color)
2. a white go stone
3. innocence

白 (hiragana しら, rōmaji shira)

1. white, Old Japanese pronunciation, now only seen in compounds