徘 (pái) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

徘

pái[pai2]Tone 2

pace, loiter, hesitate

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · pace, loiter, hesitate

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (the step radical) is narrower and shorter, while the right side carries the main phonetic weight and must remain balanced without leaning too far to the right.

1. Meaning

to pace back and forth, linger, hesitate

to hoverto waver

Bound Morpheme / VerbLiteraryBound morpheme#movement#mental state#action

Sample Usage

他独自在街头徘徊。
Tā dúzì zài jiētóu páihuái.
He wandered alone on the street.
犹豫不决，徘徊不定。
Yóuyù bù jué, páihuái bù dìng.
Hesitant and indecisive, lingering without a fixed choice.

2. Sound

/[pʰaɪ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35

徘

páipai2

´(35)

=pái

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

pai

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "a" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: p sound in 'pie'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Strong puff of air! A tissue held before lips MUST fly forward.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips together, releasing a strong puff of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: ai rhymes with 'eye'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'eye'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 starts at a mid-pitch and rises sharply to the top of your vocal range, exactly like asking a surprised question in English: 'What?!'

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the rising tone (Tone 2) with the falling-rising tone (Tone 3), turning pái into păi.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture starting from a neutral chest level and soaring upward like an airplane taking off, reflecting the rising pitch of Tone 2.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

4. Components

Radical 彳 · Step Radical (step, walking, movement)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 彳 (indicates movement or walking on foot)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 非 (original sound: fēi / pái)

The left side is the stepping radical (彳), showing feet in motion, while the right side (非) provides the phonetic sound clue, combining to represent walking back and forth.

彳 step/walk
非 not / phonetic component

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

26· Phonetic Root: 非 (fēi)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the stepping radical (彳) for walking movement and (非) for sound, originally depicting someone walking back and forth unable to decide a direction.

Semantic Evolution: From ancient times meaning pacing back and forth, it is almost exclusively found today in the binome compound 徘徊 (p páihuái).

Rarely appears as a standalone character in modern Chinese; it is almost always paired with 徊.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

bồi

The Sino-Vietnamese reading 'bồi' corresponds to historical Chinese syllable initials.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ハイ / Kun: さまよう

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

배

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You take steps (彳) while looking this way and that way, wondering if things are right or wrong (非), pacing back and forth in hesitation.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

非

fēinot; wrong; non-; AfricaPhonetic Core (声旁)

排

páia row, to arrange, platoon+ 扌 (hand)

啡

fēicoffee+ 口 (mouth)

悲

bēisad+ 心 (heart)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

排(pái)

排 uses the hand radical (扌) for pushing or lining things up, whereas 徘 uses the step radical (彳) for walking and pacing.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

他一个人在公园里孤单地[___]着。

Clue: pái

Common Learner Pitfall

Treating 徘 as an independent standalone word that can be used freely by itself, whereas in modern Chinese it almost exclusively appears together with 徊 in the compound 徘徊.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 徘 mean, and what radical does it use?

Production: How do you write the character for pacing/lingering (pái) using the step radical and the phonetic component?

徘páipace, loiter, hesitate

Speed:

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