Meaning of 犯
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to violate
- to offend
- to assault
- criminal
- crime
- to make a mistake
- recurrence (of mistake or sth bad)
How to use 犯
犯 is a verb for doing something wrong or breaking a rule, and it often pairs with a noun object like 犯错 (fàn cuò, make a mistake) or 犯法 (fàn fǎ, break the law). It also appears in nouns for people, such as 罪犯 (zuìfàn, criminal). Example: 我又犯了同样的错误。 (Wǒ yòu fàn le tóngyàng de cuòwù.) I made the same mistake again.
犯 has the dog radical 犭 on the left and a crouching figure 㔾 on the right. Picture a dog jumping at a person who is down, an image of attacking and breaking the rules.
Common mistake: Learners often write the right side as 巳 or 己, but it is 㔾, which has an open top and a hook at the bottom. Also, do not say 做错误 for "make a mistake". The natural collocation is 犯错误 (fàn cuòwù).
犯 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.
犯 fàn · to violate · 5 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 犯.
| 犯罪 | fànzuì | to commit a crime; crime; offense |
| 侵犯 | qīnfàn | to infringe on; to encroach on |
| 犯规 | fànguī | to break the rules; an illegality |
| 罪犯 | zuìfàn | criminal |
| 囚犯 | qiúfàn | prisoner; convict |
| 冒犯 | màofàn | to offend |
| 触犯 | chùfàn | to violate; to offend |
| 犯愁 | fànchóu | to worry; to be anxious |
| 犯人 | fànrén | convict; prisoner |
| 嫌犯 | xiánfàn | criminal suspect |
| 杀人犯 | shārénfàn | murderer; homicide |
| 疑犯 | yífàn | a suspect |
Questions about 犯
What does 犯 mean?
犯 (fàn) means "to violate; to offend" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 犯?
犯 is made of 1 character: 犯 (5 strokes). That is 5 strokes in total.
Is 犯 an HSK word?
Yes. 犯 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do I say a health problem or bad habit is acting up again with 犯?
犯 can mean an old problem comes back, as in 犯病 (fàn bìng, an illness flares up) or 老毛病又犯了 (lǎo máobìng yòu fàn le, the old habit is back). This matches the dictionary sense of recurrence.
What does 犯不着 or 犯不上 mean?
Both are colloquial and mean "it is not worth it" or "there is no need". Example: 为这点小事犯不着生气。 (Wèi zhè diǎn xiǎoshì fàn bu zháo shēngqì.) It is not worth getting angry over something so small.