[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/ba.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / ba

[← B](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/B/)

# ba

«ba» in Mova's school dictionary: **«eight» in Mandarin; «ba» with no tone goes at the end of…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

abbreviation (BA = Bachelor of Arts; British Airways); symbol (Ba = barium); Mandarin pinyin «bā» = eight, «ba» = suggestion particle; sheep sound «baa» — a fragment

### meaning for a pupil

1) (Mandarin, pinyin) «Bā» means «eight» in Mandarin; «ba» with no tone goes at the end of a sentence to make a suggestion: «wǒmen zǒu ba» means «let's go». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#m1)

2) (abbreviation) A BA is a Bachelor of Arts, a first university degree. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#m2)

3) (abbreviation) BA is short for British Airways, an airline. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#m3)

4) (science) «Ba» is the chemical symbol for barium. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#m4)

5) The sound a sheep makes is spelt «baa», not «ba». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#m5)

6) Ba can also be a name, such as the name of a pet reindeer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#m6)

### sense in the lessons

In Mandarin lessons pupils count «yī, èr, sān … bā» (one, two, three … eight); eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture because «bā» sounds like a word for getting rich. In science, «Ba» is on the periodic table; barium is used in hospitals to help X-rays show the stomach. On flights and luggage tags, «BA» means British Airways. In nursery rhymes, «Baa, baa, black sheep».

### examples

- In Mandarin, «bā» means «eight». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#x1)
- «Wǒmen zǒu ba» means «let's go». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#x2)
- My aunt has a BA in English. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#x3)
- We flew to London with BA. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#x4)
- Ba is the symbol for barium. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#x5)
- Eight is a lucky number in China. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#x6)
- The sheep said «baa». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#x7)

### note

A fragment, not an English word. Read abbreviations as letters: «B-A». The sheep sound is spelt «baa». In pinyin, the tone mark matters: «bā» (eight) and «bà» (dad, as in «bàba») are different.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «ba» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.