八baat3字zi6

English

1. the character 8 or 八
2. A method to record time (year, month, date, hour) in ancient China, and the word has an extended meaning of someone's birth time (record). It is also believed that the birth time determines how well a person will be and goes with another person. So when two persons do not go well with each other, it's said that 'their birth times do not match'.
3. birthdate characters used in fortune-telling

粵語 — Cantonese

1. 源自古代中國，係一種利用天干（甲、乙、丙、丁、戊、己、庚、辛、壬、癸）同地支（子、寅、辰、午、申、戌、丑、卯、巳、未、酉、亥）嚟準確記錄年、月、日、時嘅方式。後來引伸為一個人嘅時辰八字，即出生嘅年、月、日、時。有人認為一個人出世嘅時間，會決定佢日後嘅命運，同埋同其他人嘅關係。所以如果兩個人性格不合，會話佢哋「八字唔夾」。

Examples

• 八字生得正

  to be born lucky; born under a lucky star

• 佢哋兩夫婦生辰八字唔夾，所以成日鬧交。

  Their birth times do not match, so they argue a lot.

• 他剃了八字胡。

  He shaved his moustache.

  Tatoeba · U2FS CC BY

• 她是个内八字。

  She is pigeon-toed.

  Tatoeba · miaojiandao CC BY