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八卦 (bā guà) — (noun) the eight trigrams of the I Ching; (noun) gossip, juicy talk; (adjective) gossipy, fond of gossiping

Definition

八卦 is the everyday colloquial word for 'gossip' — the noun 闲话 is more formal, and 聊天儿 is just neutral chatting, not juicy talk. As an adjective it means 'gossipy', describing someone who loves to spread it.

noun
the eight trigrams of the I Chinggossipjuicy talk
adjective
gossipyfond of gossiping

Examples

  • 《》八卦。
    Tā duì 《yì jīng》 de bā guà hěn yǒu yán jiū.
    He has done a lot of research on the trigrams of the I Ching.
  • 八卦，。
    Bié zhěng tiān liáo bā guà, duō kàn kàn shū ba.
    Stop gossiping all day and read more books.
  • 八卦，。
    Tā shì gè tè bié bā guà de rén, shén me mì mì dōu cáng bú zhù.
    She's a really gossipy person — she can't keep any secret.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

八bāeight
卦guàtrigram

八 'eight' modifies 卦 'trigram', so the eight trigrams; gossip from the pattern.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

八 shows two bent lines, indicating the original meaning 'to divide'; it was later used for 'eight' because the words sounded alike.

Open 八 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
卜卜bǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
圭
圭guī卦guà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

卦 uses 卜 for the fortune-telling sense and 圭 for the sound. The 圭 part represents a pair of ritual axes, perhaps made of jade.

Open 卦 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Chinese Culture & Customs5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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