八卦
bā guà · HSK 7
gossip
🔮🗣️ Sounds like bar gossip — and it literally means gossip
八 = eight, 卦 = trigram. Originally the eight divination symbols from the Book of Changes. Now everyday slang for juicy gossip.
八 — two strokes diverging outward
Originally a pictograph of two lines splitting apart, meaning 'to divide' or 'separate.' It was later borrowed phonetically to write the number eight, and this borrowed numerical sense became dominant. The original 'divide' meaning survives in compounds like 分.