Meaning of 棒
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- stick
- club
- cudgel
- smart
- capable
- strong
- wonderful
- classifier for legs of a relay race
How to use 棒
In everyday speech 棒 is mostly an adjective meaning great or awesome, often in 真棒 (zhēn bàng) or 棒极了 (bàng jí le). It also keeps its noun meaning of stick in words like 球棒 (qiúbàng) and 棒棒糖 (bàngbàngtáng). Example: 你的中文说得真棒。(Nǐ de Zhōngwén shuō de zhēn bàng.) Your Chinese is really great.
棒 has the wood radical 木 on the left and 奉 (fèng) on the right, which hints at the sound. Picture a wooden stick, a club you can hold, and then think of someone so strong and capable they could swing it well.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 棒 (bàng) with 捧 (pěng, to hold in both hands), which has the hand radical 扌 instead of 木. Also keep the fourth tone; it is bàng, not bāng like 帮 (to help).
棒 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
棒 bàng · stick · 12 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 棒.
Questions about 棒
What does 棒 mean?
棒 (bàng) means "stick; club" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 棒?
棒 is made of 1 character: 棒 (12 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.
Is 棒 an HSK word?
Yes. 棒 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is 棒 too casual to use in formal writing?
Yes, 棒 meaning great is informal and spoken. In formal writing, use words like 出色 (chūsè) or 优秀 (yōuxiù) instead.
How is 棒 used as a classifier?
棒 can count legs of a relay race, as in 第一棒 (dì yī bàng), the first leg. By extension, 接棒 (jiē bàng) means to take over a task from someone.