八卦

Etymology

The figurative sense reportedly originates from the practice of using trigrams to censor explicit body parts on some Hong Kong tabloids.

Pronunciation

Noun

八卦

1. eight divinatory trigrams of the I Ching
   • 八卦以象告，爻彖以情言，剛柔雜居，而吉凶可見矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     八卦以象告，爻彖以情言，刚柔杂居，而吉凶可见矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: I Ching, 3^rd – 2^nd millennia BCE

     Bāguà yǐ xiàng gào, yáo tuàn yǐ qíng yán, gāngróu zájū, ér jíxiōng kějiàn yǐ. [Pinyin]

     The eight trigrams communicate their information by their emblematic figures. The explanations appended to the lines and the completed figures tell how the contemplation of them affected (the makers). The strong and the weak lines appear mixed in them, and (thus) the good and the evil (which they indicate) can be seen.
2. (figuratively) gossip; tittle-tattle; rumour

   八卦雜誌 / 八卦杂志  ―  bāguà zázhì  ―  gossip magazine; tabloid magazine

Verb

八卦

1. (figuratively) to gossip; to tittle-tattle

Adjective

八卦

1. (figuratively) prone to gossip; gossipy

Pronunciation

• On’yomi
  • (Tokyo) はっけ [hàkké] (Heiban – [0])^[1]
  • IPA^(key): [ha̠k̚ke̞]

Noun

八卦 (hiragana はっけ, rōmaji hakke)

1. The eight divinatory trigrams of the I Ching.
2. augury, divination, scrying, fortune-telling, particularly using trigrams.

References