Why does Mandarin have two characters for “bye-bye”?

Mandarin’s word for “bye-bye” is fully borrowed from English, but it’s written two different ways. 拜拜 (bāibāi) uses the character for “to worship” or “to pay respects,” chosen for the sound match. 掰掰 (bāibāi) uses the character for “to break apart with both hands,” picked for the same sound but with a playful, internet-native feel.

The two spellings split by context. 拜拜 lives in formal writing and dictionaries. 掰掰 lives in WeChat chats, kid videos, and TikTok captions, where the visual joke (a goodbye that “breaks” the meeting) lands. The clip captures the toddler form: a kid waving and saying bāibāi on repeat.