百
hundred
bǎi
What does 百 mean?
百 (bǎi) is the Chinese number 'one hundred,' but with one rule that always trips up English speakers: it almost never appears alone. To say 'one hundred,' you must say 一百 (yìbǎi) — the 一 is required, unlike English where 'a hundred' or just 'hundred' works fine. Multi-digit numbers follow the same building-block logic as English: 二百 / 两百 (200), 三百 (300), 一百零五 (105 — note the obligatory 零 'zero' to fill the empty tens place), 一百二十 (120).
百 also functions metaphorically to mean 'many / all kinds of' in fixed expressions: 百货 ('hundred goods' = department store merchandise), 百分之 ('per hundred' = percent), 百姓 ('the hundred surnames' = ordinary people). Tone change: 一百 is yìbǎi — 一
Character breakdown
hundred; numerous
Memory hook: 百 looks like 白 ('white') with one (一) stroke on top — 'one over white' = one hundred.
Example sentences
这本书一百块钱。
Zhè běn shū yìbǎi kuài qián.
This book is a hundred yuan.
spoken
教室里有一百个学生。
Jiàoshì lǐ yǒu yìbǎi gè xuésheng.
There are a hundred students in the classroom.
neutral
他考了一百分。
Tā kǎo le yìbǎi fēn.
He scored a hundred (a perfect score).
neutral
我有几百块钱。
Wǒ yǒu jǐbǎi kuài qián.
I have a few hundred yuan.
spoken
百分之九十的人都喜欢。
Bǎi fēn zhī jiǔshí de rén dōu xǐhuan.
Ninety percent of people like it.
written
Common phrases with 百
Don't confuse 百 with
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