Why does the Chinese word for "Eight" sound like
Ba?!

八

The Real Meaning

In Mandarin Chinese, the character 八 (pronounced as bā) actually translates to Eight.

Sounds like 发 (fā, to get rich). That's why 8 is the luckiest number. The Beijing Olympics started at 8:08pm on 08/08/08.

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八 means eight! bā — first tone. Eight is the luckiest number because it sounds like 发 (to get rich)!