白 — white; in vain; free of charge
white; in vain; free of charge; clear; evident
- Pinyin
- bái · Bái
- Strokes
- 5
- HSK level
- HSK 1
- Handwriting
- recognition only
This character has more than one reading — bái, Bái — and the pronunciation depends on the word it appears in. The list below gives the syllabus reading for each word.
How to write 白: 5 strokes
Each cell adds one stroke to the previous ones, with the new stroke in red. Stroke order is not decoration: it sets the proportions of the character and makes handwriting legible to a reader. The syllabus asks you to recognise this character rather than write it by hand.
Words with 白 in the HSK syllabus: 17
Every word in the official 2026 syllabus that contains this character, with the level it is introduced at. Learning a character pays off through these: each one combines with the characters you already know.
- 白天báitiāndaytime; during the day; dayHSK 1
- 白色báisèwhite; fig. reactionary; anti-communistHSK 2
- 明白míngbaiclear; obvious; unequivocal; sensible; reasonableHSK 3
- 白酒báijiǔbaijiu, a spirit usually distilled from sorghumHSK 4
- 白báiBai ethnic groupHSK 5
- 白白báibáiin vain; to no purpose; for nothing; whiteHSK 6
- 白领báilǐngwhite-collar; white-collar workerHSK 6
- 蛋白质dànbáizhìproteinHSK 6
- 表白biǎobáito explain oneself; to expressHSK 7–9
- 惨白cǎnbáideathly paleHSK 7–9
- 苍白cāngbáipale; wanHSK 7–9
- 颠倒黑白diāndǎo-hēibáilit. to invert black and white; to distort the truth deliberatelyHSK 7–9
- 对白duìbáidialogueHSK 7–9
- 洁白jiébáispotlessly white; pure whiteHSK 7–9
- 开场白kāichǎngbáiprologue of play; opening remarks; preambleHSK 7–9
- 空白kòngbáiblank spaceHSK 7–9
- 坦白tǎnbáihonest; forthcoming; to confessHSK 7–9
Glosses come from CC-CEDICT, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and are the dictionary’s first sense rather than a translation chosen for context.