拜

Tap the pinyin to hear it

to bow to; to pay one's respects; (bound form) to extend greetings (on a specific occasion); to make a courtesy call; (bound form) (of a monarch) to appoint sb to (a position) by performing a ceremony; to acknowledge sb as one's (master, godfather etc); (used before some verbs to indicate politeness)

Make a writing worksheet

HSK 3.0: Level 5
Old HSK: Level 4
Strokes: 9
Radical: 手 +5
Structure: Left–right 左右
Traditional: 拜
Common rank: #969
Unicode: U+62DC

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 拜 is formed

Ideographic compound (会意字)

Two hands 手 put together in respect

Components 手 ×2

How to remember it

adore · Heisig RSH #2582

手 hand + ceiling + bushes

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 拜

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
拜金主义	bài jīn zhǔ yì	money worship
拜天地	bài tiān dì	to worship heaven and earth; ritual kneeling by bride and groom in a old-fashioned wedding…
拜城县	Bài chéng Xiàn	Baicheng, a county in Aksu Prefecture 阿克蘇地區\|阿克苏地区[A1 ke4 su1 Di4 qu1], Xinjiang
八拜之交	bā bài zhī jiāo	sworn brotherhood; intimate friendship
拜人为师	bài rén wéi shī	to acknowledge as one's teacher
拜金女	bài jīn nǚ	materialistic woman; (slang) gold-digger
拜物教	bài wù jiào	fetishism
拜火教	Bài huǒ jiào	see 祆教[Xian1 jiao4]
朝拜圣山	cháo bài shèng shān	a pilgrimage to a holy mountain
拜科努尔航天发射基地	Bài kē nǔ ěr Háng tiān Fā shè Jī dì	Baikonur Cosmodrome
亚塞拜然	Yà sài bài rán	(Tw) Azerbaijan
团拜会	tuán bài huì	New Year reception
黄鼠狼给鸡拜年，没安好心	huáng shǔ láng gěi jī bài nián , méi ān hǎo xīn	see 黃鼠狼給雞拜年\|黄鼠狼给鸡拜年[huang2 shu3 lang2 gei3 ji1 bai4 nian2]
甘拜下风	gān bài xià fēng	to step down gracefully (humble expression); to concede defeat; to play second fiddle
礼拜一	Lǐ bài yī	Monday
礼拜天	Lǐ bài tiān	Sunday
拜金	bài jīn	to worship money; to be mad about money
礼拜三	Lǐ bài sān	Wednesday
拜会	bài huì	(often used in the context of diplomacy) to meet with; to pay a visit to; to call on
礼拜日	Lǐ bài rì	Sunday

Sound family

These characters use 拜 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
拜 sound part	bài	to bow, to salute; to worship, to pay respects
湃	pài	turbulent, surging; the sound of waves crashing