翻

飜

fān

番 + 羽

HSK 2.0Level 5

HSK 3.0Level 5

Definitions

fān (verb) to turn over; to flip over

fān (verb) to translate

fān (verb) to climb over

fān (verb) to double

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 羽 represents the meaning and 番 represents the sound.

Semantic: 羽 Phonetic: 番

About

The character 翻 is a phonosemantic compound, built from the phonetic component 番 on the left and the semantic radical 羽 (feather/wing) on the right. The wing radical vividly conveys the original concrete meaning: the fluttering movement of a bird taking flight or the vigorous flapping of wings. This core idea of rapid turning and overturning extended naturally to actions like flipping book pages and turning objects upside down, and eventually to the abstract process of translating speech or text from one language into another.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

他翻开一本书。

Tā fānkāi yī běn shū.

He opened a book.

妈妈在翻照片。

Māma zài fān zhàopiàn.

Mom is flipping through photos.

弟弟把杯子翻倒了。

Dìdi bǎ bēizi fāndǎo le.

Little brother knocked over the cup.

我每天翻看报纸。

Wǒ měitiān fānkàn bàozhǐ.

I read the newspaper every day.

因为风大，船差点翻了。

Yīnwèi fēng dà, chuán chàdiǎn fān le.

Because the wind was strong, the boat almost capsized.

她翻出旧日记，回忆过去。

Tā fān chū jiù rìjì, huíyì guòqù.

She dug out old diaries and recalled the past.

如果你翻过那座山，就能看到美丽的湖泊。

Rúguǒ nǐ fānguò nà zuò shān, jiù néng kàndào měilì de húpō.

If you cross that mountain, you can see a beautiful lake.

这本书被翻译成多种语言，翻遍了全世界。

Zhè běn shū bèi fānyì chéng duō zhǒng yǔyán, fānbiàn le quán shìjiè.

This book has been translated into many languages and has been flipped through all over the world.

Related Characters

Component: 番

Component: 羽

翻