Zi:八

八 [bā] eight; 八月 Bāyuè August; 八卦 Bāguà Trigrams; (radical 12, 八部); (HDZ:) 分开; (数词) 七加一的和; (象声); (姓)

One monosyllabic entry in The ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary (namespace Ci):

►¹bā 八 {A} num. eight; 8

The Shuōwén Seal form of 八 bā ‘eight/divide’ (⚋) is glossed with a pun on 别/別(𠛰) bié ‘separate/distinguish’; also wr. 捌 (大写).
    Compare: 呆(𣎼) bǎo ‘nurture/protect’, in which 八 represents ⚋ 阴 ‘female/mother’; later wr. 保, 𠊻, cf. 𤔍(孚) fú ‘hatch/incubate’ (䷼).
    Note: As a basic numeral 八 bā ‘eight’; as a component 八 ‘divide/division in half’ (⚋), also wr. 丷; the shape and usage of 八 bā ‘eight’ derive from binary trigram structure (易): the broken line ⚋ is short for ☷, which is itself short for ䷏ ‘binary 8’ (omitting the top trigram ☳ leaves the lower trigram ☷ remaining); auspicious associations with 八 bā ‘eight’ are explained relative to the 八卦 ‘Eight Trigrams ’, and in relation to ⚋ 阴 and ☷/䷁ 坤 ‘female/abundant’.
    Compare: 四(𠃢𦉭) sì ‘four’ (☶), 五(𠄡㐅) wǔ ‘five’ (☲), 六 liù ‘six’ (☴).
    Note: In 五(𠄡) wǔ ‘five’ the central shape 㐅 signifies (⚋) the complexity of the world arising from the combination/interplay of 阴 yīn (⚋) and 阳 yáng (⚊).
    Compare: 分 fēn ‘divide/separate’, in which 八 (phonosemantic); 别/別(𠛰) bié ‘separate/distinguish’ (分别).
    Note: Sometimes pronounced 八 bá (second tone) before a fourth-tone syllable (e.g., 八月 bá-yuè); but in standard pinyin 八 is always written first tone, as in Bāyuè.
    Twelfth of the 214 radicals.
►references: Guǎngyùn:488.29; Wieger:18a; Henshall:66; Karlgren:AD682,GSR281a; Hànyǔ Dà Zìdiǎn:1.241.3; Lindqvist:337; Mathews:4845; Kāngxī Zìdiǎn:126.26; Bǐshùn Guīfàn:001.0.09; Wáng(1993):85; EDOC:1
►Cantonese: baat-
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Unicode: U+516B
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