坊 meaning and stroke order
Neighborhood, district, community; street, lane; mill
How to write 坊, stroke by stroke
7 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 坊
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- lane (usually as part of a street name)
- memorial archway
- workshop
- mill
- Taiwan pr. [fang1]
How 坊 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Earth.
土 gives the meaning and 方 hints at the sound.
Radical: 土 (soil), shared by 183 characters on this site.
How to remember 坊
坊 combines 土 (earth) with 方 (fāng), which gives the sound. Picture a square plot of earth (土) marked off as a neighborhood or a lane with its own name.
As fāng, 坊 refers to a lane or neighborhood and appears in street names and in 街坊 (jiēfāng), meaning neighbors. As fáng, it means a workshop or mill, as in 作坊 and 磨坊. Example: 他是我的老街坊。(Tā shì wǒ de lǎo jiēfāng.) He is my old neighbor.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 坊 with 房 (fáng, house) or 防 (fáng, defend), since all share the sound part 方. Remember that 坊 has 土 on the left, 防 has 阝, and 房 has 户 on top. Also watch the tone: it is fāng in 街坊 but fáng in 磨坊 (mòfáng).
Common words with 坊
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 磨坊 | mòfáng | mill | |
| 街坊 | jiēfāng | neighborhood; neighbor | |
| 作坊 | zuōfang | workshop (of artisan) |
坊 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 坊
How many strokes are in 坊?
坊 is written with 7 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 坊 mean?
坊 (fāng) means neighborhood, district, community; street, lane; mill. A common word with it is 磨坊 (mòfáng), meaning "mill".
How do you pronounce 坊?
坊 is pronounced fāng, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 坊?
The radical of 坊 is 土, which carries the idea of "soil". Dictionaries list 坊 under this radical.
Why does 坊 have two pronunciations?
In mainland standard Mandarin, 坊 is read fāng for lanes, neighborhoods and memorial archways. It is read fáng for workshops and mills, as in 磨坊. Taiwan uses fāng for both meanings.
What is a 牌坊?
A 牌坊 (páifāng) is a traditional Chinese memorial archway. It was often built to honor a person or mark the entrance to a street or area. This is the memorial archway sense of 坊 listed in the dictionary.