盼 (pàn) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

盼

pàn[pan4]Tone 4

to hope for, to long for, to expect

HSK 6

Guru Deep Dive

English · to hope for, to long for, to expect

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (目) should be slightly narrower to leave ample breathing room for the right side (分), keeping the overall width balanced.

1. Meaning

to hope for or look forward to with eager anticipation

to gaze or look atto wait expectantly

VerbNeutral#emotion#desire#anticipation

Sample Usage

大家都在盼望春节的到来。
dàjiā dōu zài pànwàng chūnjié de dàolái.
Everyone is looking forward to the arrival of the Spring Festival.
望眼欲穿地盼着亲人归来。
wàngyǎnyùchuān de pànzhe qīnrén guīlái.
Gazing eagerly until one's eyes are weary, waiting for loved ones to return.

2. Sound

/[pʰän⁵¹]/Tone: 51

盼

pànpan4

`(51)

=pàn

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: p sound as in 'pen'

Aspirated

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips pressed together then opened with a burst of air; tongue is relaxed and low.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -an rhymes with 'un' in 'sun' or 'an' in 'on'

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

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

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and drops sharply to the bottom, mimicking an emphatic command or a definitive 'No!' in English.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse it with the first tone (pān) or second tone (pán). Tone 4 starts high and drops immediately.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, forceful karate chop downward from high to low, representing a sudden drop in pitch.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (目) should be slightly narrower to leave ample breathing room for the right side (分), keeping the overall width balanced.

4. Components

Radical 目 · Eye radical (eye, vision)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 目 (indicates looking, gazing, or setting one's eyes toward something)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 分 (original sound: fēn / pàn)

You use your eyes (目) to divide (分) the horizon, searching far and wide for what you long for.

目 eye, representing vision and watching
分 to divide, serving as the phonetic and conceptual clue for splitting distance

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

19· Phonetic Root: 分 (fèn)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined '目' (eye) with '分' (to separate/distribute) to depict straining the eyes to see far into the distance or looking out across a divided landscape with eager anticipation.

Semantic Evolution: From the physical action of straining one's eyes to look into the distance, it evolved to mean general psychological yearning, longing, and expecting.

In classical texts, it frequently appeared alongside '望' (wàng) to form the binome '盼望', which remains extremely common in modern Mandarin.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

phấn

Sino-Vietnamese reading matches the phono-semantic series closely.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ハン (han) / Kun: not-available

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

판

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

With eager eyes (目), you divide (分) the calendar days, counting down every single moment as you *long for* your vacation to arrive.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

粉

fěnpowder, flourReplaces the eye radical with rice (米), turning vision into fine powdery particles.

份

fènportion, shareReplaces the eye radical with the person radical (亻), referring to a share for a person.

贫

pínpoorCombines 'split' (分) with 'shell/money' (贝), meaning wealth is divided and gone.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

扮(bàn)

Has the person radical (亻) instead of the eye radical (目), meaning to dress up or play a role.

粉(fěn)

Has the rice radical (米) on the left instead of the eye radical (目), meaning powder.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

孩子们天天[___] 能够去游乐园玩。

Clue: pàn

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing it with characters sharing the '分' phonetic component, such as '扮' or '粉', especially when writing under time pressure.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see '盼', what English verb meaning 'to long for' or 'to expect' does it represent?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to hope for/long for' (pàn), which pairs the eye radical with 'divide'?

盼pànto hope for, to long for, to expect

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0