阪 meaning and stroke order
Hillside, slope
How to write 阪, stroke by stroke
6 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
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- 6
Meaning of 阪
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- slope
- hillside
How 阪 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Hill.
阝 gives the meaning and 反 hints at the sound.
Radical: 阝 (place), shared by 160 characters on this site.
How to remember 阪
The left side 阝 is the hill radical, and 反 (fǎn) gives the sound. Picture the ground turning back up on itself, a hill 阝 that 反 flips the flat land into a slope.
In modern Chinese 阪 is rare as a word for slope. It is mostly seen in Japanese place names, above all Osaka. Example: 我下个月去大阪。(Wǒ xià gè yuè qù Dàbǎn.) I am going to Osaka next month.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 阪 with 坂 (bǎn), which has the earth radical 土 and is also used for slope. Remember that Osaka is written 大阪 with 阝 in Chinese, while 坂 shows up in other Japanese names like 赤坂.
阪 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 阪
How many strokes are in 阪?
阪 is written with 6 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 阪 mean?
阪 (bǎn) means hillside, slope.
How do you pronounce 阪?
阪 is pronounced bǎn, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 阪?
The radical of 阪 is 阝, which carries the idea of "place". Dictionaries list 阪 under this radical.
Is 阪 the same as 坂?
They share the pronunciation bǎn and the meaning slope, and they are often treated as variants. In practice each is fixed in certain names, so 大阪 uses 阪 and names like 赤坂 use 坂.
Why does 阪 sound like 反 but with a different tone?
反 (fǎn) is the sound component, but sound components often only hint at the reading. Over time the initial and tone shifted, so 阪 is read bǎn, like 板 (bǎn) and 版 (bǎn), which share the same component.