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# ba

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

«ba» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

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://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://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#m2)
3. (abbreviation) BA is short for British Airways, an airline. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#m3)
4. (science) «Ba» is the chemical symbol for barium. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#m4)
5. The sound a sheep makes is spelt «baa», not «ba». [tree →](https://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://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/#m6)

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

## In Jewish tradition

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».

### 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.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «ba» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ba/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«ba» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/ba.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «ba» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/B/ba/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«ba» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/ba.html) on Mova free.