How to Write 掰 (bāi) — Meaning “to break off with hands; to pull apart”

Imagine you have two hands (扌 and 手) holding a piece of bread, and you use both to split it into two pieces (分). Picture yourself breaking a biscuit in half with both hands to help you recall the character's meaning.

Write the left radical 扌 first, then the top right part 分, and finally the bottom right part 手. Make sure the left side is narrow, and the right side is wider so the two hands balance. A common mistake is forgetting the bottom 手 or making 分 too large, which makes the character look unbalanced.

拳 (quán) means fist and has a different top part (䏍) above 手, with no hand radical on the left. 拿 (ná) means to take or hold and combines 合 (to join) with 手 at the bottom. In contrast, 掰 has a hand radical on the left and two hands (扌 and 手) with a dividing part 分, emphasizing the action of pulling apart.

You use 掰 when physically breaking something with your hands, like 掰开 a cookie or 掰玉米 picking corn. It is also common in the game 掰手腕 (arm wrestling), where two people grip and try to pull each other's hand down. The character can be used figuratively, for example, when someone argues strongly, people might say they are 掰手腕 in a debate.

Common words containing 掰 include: 掰开 (bāi kāi) — to break open; to pull apart; 掰玉米 (bāi yù mǐ) — to pick corn (by breaking the cob off); 掰手腕 (bāi shǒu wàn) — arm wrestling.