瓣
Character Story & Explanation
瓣 is widely used in modern Chinese for edible segments (e.g., 蒜瓣 'garlic clove') and floral parts (e.g., 花瓣 'petal'). It appears in standard terms like 菊花瓣 (chrysanthemum petal) in traditional medicine and cuisine, and in idioms such as 一瓣心香 (yī bàn xīn xiāng), a poetic phrase meaning 'a sincere, heartfelt offering' — referencing incense shaped like flower petals. Historically, 瓣 appears in Song dynasty texts describing horticulture and herbalism, where precise terminology for plant parts became essential.
The character’s form is not pictographic; it evolved from seal script where 瓜 (melon) was the phonetic component and 辛 (originally 'to punish', later 'spicy') hinted at division. There’s no oracle-bone record — its earliest attested forms are in Warring States bamboo slips, consistently representing segmented objects. Today, Chinese learners most commonly encounter it while cooking (peeling garlic) or reading nature essays.
Hi there! Let’s learn 瓣 (bàn), a beautiful character meaning 'petal' — the delicate, often colorful part of a flower. Though it looks complex with 19 strokes, it’s built logically: the top is 瓜 (guā, 'melon'), which here acts as a phonetic hint (though pronunciation has shifted), and the bottom is 辛 (xīn, 'spicy, laborious'), originally suggesting division or segmentation — like how a flower or garlic clove splits into separate parts. Don’t worry about memorizing all strokes at once — focus on its shape and meaning first.
This character isn’t just for flowers! In everyday Chinese, 瓣 also means 'segment' or 'section', especially of things that naturally divide — think garlic cloves (蒜瓣, suàn bàn), orange segments (橘瓣, jú bàn), or even abstract divisions like 'a segment of society'. That dual meaning — botanical petal + physical/abstract segment — is key. It reflects how Chinese characters often unify concrete and conceptual ideas through shared structure and logic.
As an HSK Level 6 word, 瓣 appears in advanced reading, literature, and formal writing — not in beginner dialogues, but you’ll see it in poetry describing spring blossoms, medical texts (e.g., 'lobe of the lung' — 肺瓣), or food descriptions. Its radical 瓜 (melon) may seem surprising for 'petal', but remember: radicals aren’t always semantic — sometimes they’re historical or phonetic anchors. The real clue is context: if it’s paired with 花 (huā, 'flower'), it’s almost certainly 'petal'; with 蒜 or 橘, it’s 'cloves' or 'segments'.
Example Sentences
Common Compounds
Similar Characters — Don't Mix These Up
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