八

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See also: 入, 丷, and ハ
八 U+516B, 八
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-516B
← 兪
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 公 →
⼋ U+2F0B, ⼋
KANGXI RADICAL EIGHT
← ⼊
 		Kangxi Radicals ⼌ →
㈧ U+3227, ㈧
PARENTHESIZED IDEOGRAPH EIGHT
← ㈦
 		Enclosed CJK Letters and Months ㈨ →
㊇ U+3287, ㊇
CIRCLED IDEOGRAPH EIGHT
← ㊆
 		Enclosed CJK Letters and Months ㊈ →

Translingual

Stroke order
2 strokes
Stroke order

Han character

八 (Kangxi radical 12, 八+0, 2 strokes, cangjie input 竹人 (HO), four-corner 80000, composition ⿰丿乀(GHT) or ⿰丿乁(JKV))

  1. Kangxi radical #12, ⼋.
  2. Shuowen Jiezi radical №16

Usage notes

Minor strokes in the shape of 八 or 丷, as in the top of 𠔉 and 龹, can be referred by this radical (but in many cases, it is a false friend). These are often written as 丷 in modern texts. Compare 卷/卷, and different forms of 鬲/鬲.

Derived characters

Descendants

Further reading

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 126, character 26
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1450
  • Dae Jaweon: page 274, character 13
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 241, character 3
  • Unihan data for U+516B

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 八
Shang Western Zhou Spring and Autumn Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Hanjian (compiled in Song) Guwen Sishengyun (compiled in Song) Jizhuan Guwen Yunhai (compiled in Song) Liushutong (compiled in Ming) Libian (compiled in Qing) Kangxi Dictionary (compiled in Qing)
Bronze inscriptions Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Chu slip and silk script Qin slip script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts Transcribed ancient scripts Transcribed ancient scripts Transcribed ancient scripts Clerical script Ming typeface
Oracle bone script

j01414

j01415

j01416

j01417

j01418

j01419

j01420

j01421

j01422

j01423

j01424

Bronze inscriptions

b00933

b00934

b00935

b00936

b00937

b00938

b00939

b00940

b00941

b00942

b00943

b00944

b00945

b00946

b00947

b00948

b00949

Small seal script

s00788

Transcribed ancient scripts

L26490

L26491

L26492

L26493

L26494

L26495

References:

Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:

  • Shuowen Jiezi (small seal),
  • Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions),
  • Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and
  • Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).
Characters in the same phonetic series (八) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
扒 *preːds, *preːd, *pred
八 *preːd
𩡩 *preːd
朳 *preːd
玐 *preːd
釟 *preːd
汃 *pʰreːd, *prɯn

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 八 is two bent lines indicating the original meaning of "to divide". This character is later borrowed to mean "eight" because of homonymy, making the original meaning obsolete (now represented by 分 and 別).

Etymology 1

trad. 八
simp. # 八
alternative forms 捌 financial

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-r-gjat (“eight”). Compare Tibetan བརྒྱད (brgyad).

Pronunciation

Note: bá - a less common tone sandhi variant of 八 when it occurs before a departing-tone character, e.g. 八路 (Bālù).
Note:
  • poeh/peh/piē - vernacular;
  • pat - literary.
Rime
Character 八
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 幫 (1)
Final (韻) 山 (75)
Tone (調) Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) II
Fanqie 博拔切
Baxter peat
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/pˠɛt̚/
Pan
Wuyun 		/pᵚæt̚/
Shao
Rongfen 		/pæt̚/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/pəɨt̚/
Li
Rong 		/pɛt̚/
Wang
Li 		/pæt̚/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/pat̚/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		ba
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		baat3
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 八
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		bā
Middle
Chinese 		‹ pɛt ›
Old
Chinese 		/*pˁret/
English eight

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 八
Reading # 1/1
No. 89
Phonetic
component 		八
Rime
group 		月
Rime
subdivision 		2
Corresponding
MC rime 		八
Old
Chinese 		/*preːd/

Definitions

八

  1. eight
  2. many; numerous
  3. (printing) pearl (the smallest size of usual type, standardized as 5 point)
  4. Short for 八卦 (bāguà).
    1. to gossip (about); to stick one's nose in
    2. (Cantonese) nosey; meddling
      八婆 [Cantonese]  ―  baat3 po4   ―  nosey parker; meddling woman
  5. a surname: Ba
See also
Chinese numbers
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 102 103 104 106 108 1012
Normal
(小寫／小写) 		〇, 零, 空 一, 蜀 二, 兩／两 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 百 千 萬／万,
十千 (Malaysia, Singapore) 		百萬／百万,
桶(Philippines),
面桶 (Philippines) 		億／亿 兆 (Taiwan)
萬億／万亿 (Mainland China)
Financial
(大寫／大写) 		零 壹 貳／贰 參／叁 肆 伍 陸／陆 柒 捌 玖 拾 佰 仟

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (八):
  • → Japanese: 八(はち) (hachi)
  • → Korean: 팔(八) (pal)
  • → Vietnamese: bát (八)

Others:

Etymology 2

trad. 八
simp. # 八

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *brat (“cut apart, cut open”). Cognate to 別／别 (bié).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 八
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 幫 (1)
Final (韻) 山 (75)
Tone (調) Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) II
Fanqie 博拔切
Baxter peat
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/pˠɛt̚/
Pan
Wuyun 		/pᵚæt̚/
Shao
Rongfen 		/pæt̚/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/pəɨt̚/
Li
Rong 		/pɛt̚/
Wang
Li 		/pæt̚/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/pat̚/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		ba
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		baat3
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 八
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		bā
Middle
Chinese 		‹ pɛt ›
Old
Chinese 		/*pˁret/
English eight

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 八
Reading # 1/1
No. 89
Phonetic
component 		八
Rime
group 		月
Rime
subdivision 		2
Corresponding
MC rime 		八
Old
Chinese 		/*preːd/

Definitions

八

  1. † to divide; to differentiate

Etymology 3

For pronunciation and definitions of 八 – see 捌 (“to know”).
(This character is a variant form of 捌).

References

Japanese

Japanese cardinal numbers
 <  7 8 9  > 
    Cardinal : 八

Kanji

八

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Derived terms

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
八
はち
Grade: 1
goon
Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ja

From Middle Chinese 八 (MC peat). The 呉音 (goon, literally “Wu sound”) reading, so likely the initial borrowing from Middle Chinese.

Pronunciation

Numeral

八(はち) • (hachi) 

  1. eight, 8

Noun

八(はち) • (hachi) 

  1. eight
  2. Short for 八の字.
  3. Short for 八兵衛.

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
八
や
Grade: 1
kun’yomi

From Old Japanese 八 (ya), from Proto-Japonic *ya.

The ablaut form of 四 (yo, “four”), which it doubles. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

Noun

八(や) • (ya) 

  1. eight
Derived terms

Coordinate terms

Japanese numbers
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Regular 零(れい) (rei)
零(ゼロ) (zero) 		一(いち) (ichi) 二(に) (ni) 三(さん) (san) 四(よん) (yon)
四(し) (shi) 		五(ご) (go) 六(ろく) (roku) 七(なな) (nana)
七(しち) (shichi) 		八(はち) (hachi) 九(きゅう) (kyū)
九(く) (ku) 		十(じゅう) (jū)
Formal 壱(いち) (ichi) 弐(に) (ni) 参(さん) (san) 拾(じゅう) (jū)
90 100 300 600 800 1,000 3,000 8,000 10,000 100,000,000
Regular 九(きゅう)十(じゅう) (kyūjū) 百(ひゃく) (hyaku)
一(いっ)百(ぴゃく) (ippyaku) 		三(さん)百(びゃく) (sanbyaku) 六(ろっ)百(ぴゃく) (roppyaku) 八(はっ)百(ぴゃく) (happyaku) 千(せん) (sen)
一(いっ)千(せん) (issen) 		三(さん)千(ぜん) (sanzen) 八(はっ)千(せん) (hassen) 一(いち)万(まん) (ichiman) 一(いち)億(おく) (ichioku)
Formal 一(いち)萬(まん) (ichiman)
1012 8×1012 1013 1016 6×1016 8×1016 1017 1018
一(いっ)兆(ちょう) (itchō) 八(はっ)兆(ちょう) (hatchō) 十(じゅっ)兆(ちょう) (jutchō) 一(いっ)京(けい) (ikkei) 六(ろっ)京(けい) (rokkei) 八(はっ)京(けい) (hakkei) 十(じゅっ)京(けい) (jukkei) 百(ひゃっ)京(けい) (hyakkei)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Korean

Korean numbers (edit)
80
 ←  7 8 9  → 
    Native isol.: 여덟 (yeodeol)
    Native attr.: 여덟 (yeodeol)
    Sino-Korean: 팔 (pal)
    Hanja: 八
    Ordinal: 여덟째 (yeodeoljjae)

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 八 (MC peat).

Historical Readings
Dongguk Jeongun Reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448 바ᇙ〮 (Yale: pálq)
Middle Korean
Text Eumhun
Gloss (hun) Reading
Hunmong Jahoe, 1527 여듧 (Yale: yètùlp) 팔 (Yale: phál)
Sinjeung Yuhap, 1576 여ᄃᆞᆲ (Yale: yetolp) 팔 (Yale: phal)

Pronunciation

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

八 (eumhun 여덟 팔 (yeodeol pal))

  1. Hanja form? of 팔 (“eight”).

Compounds

Compounds

References

  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Vietnamese

Han character

八: Hán Việt readings: bát
八: Nôm readings: bát, bắt, bớt

  1. chữ Hán form of bát (“eight, octo- (Sino-Vietnamese compounds)”).

Compounds

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Nguyễn (2014).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Nguyễn et al. (2009).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Trần (2004).
Wikious
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