防 fáng to protect
to protect; to defend; to guard against; to prevent
How to remember 防: 阝 mound + 方 direction = to protect. The villagers pile sandbags into a mound facing the direction the river comes from, working all night to protect the flood.
Component breakdown
防 = 阝 mound + 方 direction
- 阝 mound
- 方 direction
The villagers pile sandbags into a mound facing the direction the river comes from, working all night to protect the flood.
How it is used
- Highly productive prefix: 防 + noun/verb = "-proof / guard against X," e.g. 防水 fángshuǐ waterproof, 防晒 fángshài sun protection - a pattern worth knowing beyond the listed compounds.
- 预防 yùfáng is proactive, medical prevention (预防感冒 "prevent catching a cold"), while 防止 fángzhǐ is the general, formal verb for preventing any bad outcome.
- Watch the reading in 提防 dīfang "be on guard against" - 提 is read dī here, not its usual tí.
Words with 防
- 防止fángzhǐto preventHSK 5
- 预防yùfángto preventHSK 5
- 消防xiāofángfirefightingHSK 6
- 防治fángzhìto prevent and cureHSK 6
- 国防guófángnational defenseHSK 8
- 提防dīfangto guard againstHSK 8
- 防卫fángwèito defendHSK 9
- 防守fángshǒuto defendHSK 9
- 防御fángyùdefenseHSK 9
- 防护fánghùto defendHSK 9
- 防汛fángxùnflood controlHSK 9
- 防火墙fánghuǒqiángfirewallHSK 9
- 防疫fángyìto prevent epidemicsHSK 9
- 防盗fángdàoto guard against theftHSK 9
- 防范fángfànto be on guardHSK 9