八 bā eight; 8
Made with 2 strokes.
As 8 can be subdivided into 4 then 2 then 1 it is likely that 8 was given a representaion of division
Ancient small seal form 
Sounds same
巴 bā (to long for) ; 吧 bā (supposition or suggestion)Different tone
把 bǎ (to hold) ; 爸 bà (father)Radical
Index 12 used in: 戴 dài (to respect) ; 分 fēn (divide) ; 共 gòng (common) ; 公 gōng (public) ; 关 guān (shut) ; 黄 huáng (yellow) ; 陵 líng (mound) ; 六 liù (six) ; 其 qí (his) ; 商 shāng (commerce) ; 四 sì (four) ; 兴 xīng (prosper) ; 穴 xué (cave)Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
Stroke order for character 八, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license ➚
Proverbs
八仙过海,各显神通 bā xiān guò hǎi, gè xiǎn shén tōng Everyone has their own special skills to contribute八字没一撇 bā zì méi yì piě You can't do everything on your own
半斤八两 bàn jīn bā liǎng Nothing to choose between two alternatives
乱七八糟 luàn qī bā zāo To be in a terrible mess. Dirty and filthy
Phrases
八 点 十 分 bā diǎn shí fēn 10 past 8Also
腊八节 Làbā jié Laba Festival八宝 bā bǎo eight treasures