Meaning of 翻
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to turn over
- to flip over
- to overturn
- to rummage through
- to translate
- to decode
- to double
- to climb over or into
- variant of 翻[fan1]
How to use 翻
翻 is used for flipping things physically, like pages or pancakes, and also for rummaging and climbing over. It appears in many common words such as 翻译 (fānyì, to translate) and 翻番 (fānfān, to double). Example: 请翻到第十页。(Qǐng fān dào dì shí yè.) Please turn to page ten.
翻 (fān) has 番 (fān) on the left, which gives the sound, and 羽 (yǔ, feathers or wings) on the right. Picture a bird's wings flipping over and over as it flies, and you have the idea of turning over.
Common mistake: Learners often write the left part as 采 or 米 and forget the 田 underneath, but the full component is 番. Also, 翻 alone usually means to flip or turn over. Only in 翻译 and casual speech does it mean to translate, so do not use it in place of 翻译 in formal writing.
翻 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.
翻 fān · to turn over · 18 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 翻.
| 翻译 | fānyì | to translate; to interpret |
| 推翻 | tuīfān | to overthrow |
| 翻天覆地 | fāntiān-fùdì | sky and the earth turning upside down (idiom); fig. complete confusion; everything turned |
| 翻来覆去 | fānlái-fùqù | to toss and turn (sleeplessly); again and again |
| 翻番 | fānfān | to double; to increase by a certain number of times |
| 翻过 | fānguò | to turn over; to transform |
| 翻身 | fānshēn | to turn over (when lying); (fig.) to free oneself |
| 翻转 | fānzhuǎn | to roll; to turn over |
| 翻过来 | fānguòlái | to overturn; to turn upside down |
| 打翻 | dǎfān | to overturn; to overthrow |
| 翻滚 | fāngǔn | to roll; to boil |
| 翻新 | fānxīn | to revamp; a face-lift |
Questions about 翻
What does 翻 mean?
翻 (fān) means "to turn over; to flip over" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 翻?
翻 is made of 1 character: 翻 (18 strokes). That is 18 strokes in total.
Is 翻 an HSK word?
Yes. 翻 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say 'to flip through a book' with 翻?
Say 翻书 (fān shū) or 翻一翻书 (fān yi fān shū) for a casual look through pages. To look something up, you can say 翻字典 (fān zìdiǎn), to flip through a dictionary.
What is the difference between 翻 and 转 (zhuǎn)?
翻 means turning something over so the other side faces up, like flipping a page or a pancake. 转 means rotating or turning direction, like 转身 (zhuǎnshēn, to turn around) or 左转 (zuǒ zhuǎn, turn left).