Chinese character for hundred: 百 (bǎi)

The Chinese character for hundred is 百 (bǎi). It means one hundred and also 'many' or 'all kinds', as in 百花 (bǎihuā, all kinds of flowers) and 百分之百 (bǎi fēn zhī bǎi, one hundred percent).

How 百 is built

百 has 一 (one) on top of 白 (bái, white). 白 gives the sound, and the single line on top marks the amount, one hundred. This is a standard explanation. Because a hundred is a big round number, 百 often means 'all' or 'every', as in 百姓 (common people, literally 'hundred surnames'). It is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese.

百 bǎi · hundred

• 一 — horizontal stroke
• 白bái — white
  • 日rì — sun; day
    • 口kǒu — mouth
    • 一 — horizontal stroke

Origin hint: 一 gives the meaning, 白 gives the sound. (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)

How 百 is used

Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 百 is identical in both scripts; phrases like 百年好合 (a hundred years of happy union) are common for weddings.

Questions

Related

• 千thousand
• 十ten
• 万ten thousand
• 白white
• 寿longevity

Full page for 百 › All characters for words