苯 meaning and stroke order
Benzene, benzol
How to write 苯, stroke by stroke
8 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Meaning of 苯
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- benzene
- benzol (chemistry)
How 苯 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character.
艹 gives the meaning and 本 hints at the sound.
Radical: 艹 (grass), shared by 421 characters on this site.
How to remember 苯
苯 is grass 艹 on top of 本 (běn), which gives the sound. Think of benzene as a chemical first found in plant oils and resins, with 本 telling you to say it like běn.
苯 appears almost only in chemistry and industry, often inside longer compound names. A common example is 甲苯 (jiǎběn), toluene. Example: 苯对人体有害。(Běn duì réntǐ yǒuhài.) Benzene is harmful to the human body.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 苯 with 笨 (bèn, stupid), which has the bamboo radical ⺮ on top and a fourth tone. 苯 has the grass radical 艹 and a third tone.
Questions about 苯
How many strokes are in 苯?
苯 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 苯 mean?
苯 (běn) means benzene, benzol.
How do you pronounce 苯?
苯 is pronounced běn, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 苯?
The radical of 苯 is 艹, which carries the idea of "grass". Dictionaries list 苯 under this radical.
Is 苯 used in everyday conversation?
Rarely. You will mostly see it in news about pollution, product safety labels, and chemistry classes, for example in 苯超标 (běn chāobiāo), benzene levels exceeding the standard.
Why does 苯 sound like the English word benzene?
The character was chosen for chemistry so that its sound, from the phonetic part 本 (běn), matches the start of the Western name. Many Chinese chemical terms were created this way.