How to Write 叭 (bā) — Meaning “honk; pop (onomatopoeia)”

Imagine a car horn shaped like the number 8 (八) coming out of a mouth (口). The mouth is blowing air into the 8-shaped horn, producing a loud honking sound: bā! This visual connects the parts to its meaning.

The left radical 口 should be narrow and slightly higher than the right side. The right part 八 (two strokes: a left-slanting line and a right-slanting line) must be written with balanced spacing, not touching the mouth. A common mistake is making the 口 too wide or placing the 八 too low—both make the character look unbalanced.

口 is a standalone character meaning 'mouth', while 叭 specifically adds the sound component 八 to create an onomatopoeic word. 卟 (bǔ) uses a different phonetic (卜) and means a divination sound or 'pop', so it is visually similar but has a different pronunciation and usage. In practice, 叭 always implies a honking or beeping noise, whereas 口 is more general.

叭 is most common in the word 喇叭 (lǎ bā), meaning horn, trumpet, or loudspeaker—for example, 按喇叭 (press the horn) when driving. It also appears in 叭叭 (bā bā) to describe repeated honking sounds, and in 喇叭花 (lǎ bā huā), the morning glory flower, whose trumpet-shaped blossom inspired the name. It is not used alone in daily speech, only within these compound words.

Common words containing 叭 include: 喇叭 (lǎ bā) — horn / trumpet / loudspeaker; 叭叭 (bā bā) — honking; beeping sound; 喇叭花 (lǎ bā huā) — morning glory.