般 bān sort
sort; manner; like
How to remember 般: 舟 boat + 殳 strike = sort. The rowing team drag their boat out of the lake after a strike of lightning, not the sort of day for training.
Component breakdown
般 = 舟 boat + 殳 strike
- 舟 boat
- 殳 strike
The rowing team drag their boat out of the lake after a strike of lightning, not the sort of day for training.
How it came to be
A boat with a hand holding a pole beside it: pushing a boat round. Turning a thing about to see all of it is where a kind and a sort come from.
How it is used
- Mostly lives in 一般 (yìbān) = ordinary/generally - 一般来说 (yìbān lái shuō) generally speaking, 他很一般 (tā hěn yìbān) he's nothing special.
- As a suffix it means 'like / -ish', forming similes: 雪一般白 (xuě yìbān bái) white as snow, 飞一般的速度 (fēi yìbān de sùdù) flying-fast speed.
- Don't read it as the boat 舟 sense; in daily use it's the 'kind/manner' meaning.
Characters built with 般
Words with 般
Example sentences
- 这道菜的味道很一般。 Zhè dào cài de wèidao hěn yìbān.The taste of this dish is very ordinary.
- 一般来说，东北菜比较咸。 Yībānláishuō, Dōngběi cài bǐjiào xián.Generally speaking, Dongbei cuisine is rather salty.