百
bǎi/paɪ̯²¹⁴/
The English word hundred is translated into Chinese as 百 (bǎi).
Meaning: cardinal number 100 (num)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 百 | bǎi | /paɪ̯²¹⁴/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, vernacular, Sinological IPA) /pu̯ɔ³⁵/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, literary, Sinological IPA) |
|
| 百 | pah / pek | /paʔ³/ (Min Nan, Hokkien, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Singapore, Philippines, Penang, Sinological IPA, General Taiwanese) /paʔ⁵/ (Min Nan, Hokkien, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Singapore, Philippines, Penang, Sinological IPA, General Taiwanese) |
Hokkien |
百 is the cardinal number for 100. In standard counting, when you want to say the specific number one hundred, you typically place the number one 一 before it to form 一百.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Dungan, the word for hundred is бый. In Hokkien, the word is 百, pronounced as pah or pek.
How does it change in a sentence?
The term 百 is used in the construction 百分之 followed by a number to express percentages. For example, 百分之百 means one hundred percent.
How do you pronounce it?
The pronunciation for 百 is bǎi.
Did you know?
- While 百 is the standard word for hundred, the Dungan language uses the form бый. Dungan is a variety of Chinese spoken in Central Asia that uses the Cyrillic alphabet instead of characters.
- In Chinese, 百 is often used to mean 'many' or 'a great variety' rather than exactly 100. For example, the word for 'encyclopedia' is 百科全书, which literally means 'hundred-knowledge whole book'.
- In ancient Chinese, the character 皕 was used specifically to represent the number 'two hundred'. It is a specialized variant derived from an abbreviated form of the more common 'two hundred' expression.
Examples in context
- 玛丽有一百多双鞋。Mary has more than a hundred pairs of shoes.This sentence is useful for seeing how to use 百 when describing a quantity of items.Tatoeba #5812277 by AlbadeG, translation #3538193 by Hybrid
- 我不是百分之百确定。I'm not one hundred percent convinced of that.This sentence shows the idiomatic use of 百 within a percentage-based expression.Tatoeba #5558519 by verdastelo9604, translation #1307980 by Eldad
- 飞机上载有五百名乘客。The plane had five hundred passengers on board.This sentence demonstrates how to use 百 when counting people.Tatoeba #4466732 by MirendaBABY, translation #4466668 by AlanF_US
- 那个机场有一百个停车位。That airport has one hundred parking spaces.
- 给我一百块钱。Give me a hundred dollars.
- 53 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
志强 and 梓涵 are discussing the price of a gift.
- 志强 Zhiqiang这件衣服要一百块。zhè jiàn yīfu yào yì bǎi kuài.This piece of clothing costs one hundred dollars.
- 梓涵 Zihan一百块很便宜呀。yì bǎi kuài hěn piányi ya.One hundred dollars is very cheap.
- 志强 Zhiqiang你要买一百块的吗？nǐ yào mǎi yì bǎi kuài de ma?Do you want to buy the one for one hundred?
- 梓涵 Zihan好啊，我买。hǎo a, wǒ mǎi.Okay, I will buy it.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hundred” translations and entries 百, 百, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 百, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
