Pianpang


Pianpangs are components in Chinese character internal structures. A compound character is normally divided into two pianpangs according to their relationship in sounds and meanings. Originally, the left side component of the character was called pian, and the right side pang. Nowadays, it is customary to refer to the left and right, upper and lower, outer and inner parts of compound characters as pianpangs.
Radicals are indexing components of Chinese characters, and are usually pianpangs representing the meanings of the characters.

Classification

There are three categories of pianpangs in modern Chinese characters:
  1. A component related to the meaning of the character is a semantic pianpang. For example: component "扌" in characters "推" and "拉", and "心" in "思" and "忠".
  2. A component related to the pronunciation of the character is a phonetic pianpang. For example, "包" in "抱" and "苞".
  3. A component related to neither the meaning nor the pronunciation of the character is a pure sign pianpang. For example: "多" in "移", and "又" in "鸡".

Combinations

In pianpang analysis, modern Chinese compound characters are formed by the following combinations.
Semantic-semantic characters, or Compound ideographs, combine two or more semantic pianpangs to indicate the meaning of the character. For example,
  • : together to take;
  • : with two ;
  • : from .
Phonetic-phonetic characters are composed of phonetic pianpangs. For example,
  • was originally a semantic-phonetic character, but its modern meaning of "new" has nothing to do with the original semantic component of, though the sounds are similar. In this way, then has two phonetic components: and .
  • Vietname Chinese character ? was created as a compound of 巴 and 陵.
Form-form characters are composed of pure form pianpangs, which neither represent the sound nor the meaning of the characters. For example:
  • : in oracle bones script the character is like an arrow shooting to the ground. According to the current glyph, the original meaning can no longer be seen, let alone the modern meaning of the word.
  • : The oracle form resembled a deer, which is no longer true for the modern character.
Semantic-phonetic characters consist of semantic and phonetic components. For example:
  • ;
  • 江 ;
  • 河.
Semantic-form characters are composed of semantic components and pure form components.
Many of these characters were originally semantic-phonetic characters. Due to subsequent changes in the shape or pronunciation of the phonetic components or the characters, the phonetic components could not effectively represent the pronunciation of the character and became pure form. For example:
  • : used to have semantic and phonetic, the phonetic component is no longer.
  • : used to have semantic and phonetic . Now the upper component no longer looks like.
  • , is a, but not read as .
Phonetic-form characters are composed of phonetic components and pure form components. They mostly came from ancient semantic-phonetic characters, where the semantic components lost their functions and became pure form. For example,
  • : Originally refers to a kind of beautiful jade, with semantic component . Later, it was borrowed to represent a ball, and then extended to any spherical object, and became a pure form component, while remains a phonetic component.
  • : Originally refers to the inner white layer of bamboo, with semantic component and phonetic . Later, the character was borrowed by sound to mean 'stupid', an adjective not related to bamboo.
  • : This is a simplified character with phonetic and pure form component.

Positions

Pianpangs appear in different positions of Chinese characters, including:
  1. Left meaning and right sound , such as
    : semantic pianpang 月, phonetic pianpang 干 ;
    : semantic 心, phonetic 京 ;
    : semantic 氵, phonetic 胡.
  2. Right meaning and left sound, such as
    : semantic 鳥, phonetic 武 ;
    : semantic 男, phonetic 生 ;
    雌 : semantic 隹, phonetic 此 ;
  3. Upper meaning and lower sound, such as
    , semantic 雨, phonetic 林 ;
    , semantic 艹, phonetic 矛 ;
    , semantic 竹, phonetic 干.
  4. Lower meaning and upper sound, such as
    , semantic 皿, phonetic 于 ;
    , semantic 山, phonetic 代 ;
    , semantic 鱼, phonetic 鲨.
  5. Outer meaning and inner sounds, such as
    , semantic 囗, phonetic 袁 ;
    , semantic 衣, phonetic 中 ;
    , semantic 疒, phonetic 羊.
  6. Inner meaning and outer sound, such as
    , semantic 糸, phonetic 辡 ;
    , semantic 心, phonetic 門 ;
    , semantic 手, phonetic 莫.
  7. Phonetic corner, such as
    , phonetic 其 ;
    徒, semantic 辵, phonetic 土.
  8. Semantic corner, such as
    , semantic 土, phonetic 彊 ;
    , semantic 彡, phonetic 攸.
Some variant characters have the same pianpangs arranged in different ways. For example,
  • 够夠 ;
  • 鵝䳘 ;
  • 拿㧱 ;
  • 蟹蠏 ;
  • 群羣 ;
  • 翄翅 ;
  • 啓啟.

Relationship with ''radicals'' and ''components''

Pianpangs and radicals are components. The three concepts of pianpangs, radicals and components often get confused among Chinese language learners.
Pianpangs are internal structural components. A compound character is normally divided into two pianpangs in internal structure, but only has one radical, usually the semantic pianpang. For example, character is decomposed into pianpang 氵 and 工, where semantic 氵 is the radical.
Radicals are indexing components used for sorting and retrieving Chinese characters. According to the glyph structure of Chinese characters, the common components of a group of characters are selected as their radical. For example, "" share radical.
In addition to radicals and pianpangs, a character may have other components. For example, character is divided into pianpangs, where semantic is the radical. And can be further decomposed into three primitive components in Chinese character external structures.

Works cited

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Appendix: Names of Chinese character pianpangs

The following table is based on the tables of pianpangs and bushous from Xiandai Hanyu Cidian and Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian, including the frequently used pianpangs which exist in the Unicode character set.
PianpangNamePinyinExamples.
匚区字框
匠字框		qūzìkuāng匠、匹、区
厂偏厂piānchǎng厕、原、厚
卩单耳旁dān'ěrpáng卫、卬
㔾仓字底cāngzìdǐ范、卮
廴建之旁jiànzhīpáng延、廷、廸
阝双耳旁
双耳刀
左耳旁
右耳旁		shuāngěrpáng
shuāngěrdāo
zuǒěrpáng
yòuěrpáng		阞、队、阡
邓、邗、邘
冂同字框tóngzìkuàng冃、内、冈
刂立刀旁lìdāopáng刬、刘、判
卜卜字旁bǔzìpáng卡、卤、卧
凵凶字框xiōngzìkuàng凶、画、函
勹包字头bāozìtóu勺、勾、匀
亻单人旁
单立人		dānrénpáng亿、什、仁
厶私字边sīzìbiān厾、去、厹
亠京字頭/京字头、
六字头		jīngzìtóu
liùzìtóu		亡、交、亢
言/讠言字旁yánzìpáng计、订、讣
冖秃宝盖tūbǎogài冗、冘、写
冫两点水liǎngdiǎnshuǐ冰、习、净
丷倒八
兰字头		dàobā兰、羊
土提土旁、
剔土旁		títǔpáng
tītǔpáng		圢、圣、圥
艹草字頭/草字头cǎozìtóu艺、艻、艾
扌提手旁tíshǒupáng扎、扐、扑
廾弄字底nòngzìdǐ开、弁、异
兀尧字底yáozìdǐ尧、虺
尢尤字旁yóuzìpáng尤、尥、尨
弋式字头shìzìtóu式、鳶
彐寻字头
横山		xúnzìtóu
héngshān		雪、灵、彗
子子字旁zǐzìpáng孔、孕、孖
囗國字框/国字框、
方框		guózìkuàng
fāngkuàng		囚、四、囝
屮出字头chūzìtóu屯、屰
饣/飠食字旁shízìpáng饥、饧、饨
夂折文zhéwén处、夆、备
彳雙人旁/双人旁
双立人		shuāngrénpáng彴、彷、彸
彡三撇sānpiě形、彤、彦
犭反犬旁、
犬犹		fǎnquǎnpáng
quǎnyóu		犯、犰、犴
幺幼字旁yòuzìpáng幼、幻、兹
糹/纟絞絲旁/绞丝旁、
亂絞絲/乱绞丝		jiǎosīpáng
luànjiǎosī		纠、纡、红
巛三拐sānguǎi巠、巢、巤
广廣字旁/广字旁
广字头		guǎngzìpáng
guǎngzìtóu		庀、庄、庆
辶走之儿
走之底		zǒuzhīr
zǒuzhīdǐ		边，辽、巡
丬/爿將字旁/将字旁jiāngzìpáng壮、状、将
门门字旁ménzìpáng闩、闪、闫
宀寶蓋/宝盖
宝盖头		bǎogài
bǎogàitóu		宁、它、宄
氵三点水sāndiǎnshuǐ氿、汀、汁
忄豎心旁/竖心旁、
豎心/竖心		shùxīnpáng
shùxīn		忆、忉、忋
王王字旁、
斜玉旁		wángzìpáng
xiéyùpáng		玉、玊、玍
耂老子头lǎozitóu老、考、者
木木字旁mùzìpáng未、末、本
⺗恭字底gōngzìdǐ恭、忝
牛牛字旁、
剔牛		niúzìpáng
tīniú		牝、牠、牡
攵反文旁fǎnwénpáng收、政、教
月月字旁yuèzìpáng明，期
爫爪字頭/爪字头
采字頭		zhǎozìtóu爱，采
礻示字旁、
示補/示补		shìzìpáng
shìbǔ		礼、礽、社
火火字旁huǒzìpáng灭、灯、灰
灬四点底、
四点		sìdiǎndǐ
sìdiǎn		炁、炰、点
?春字頭/春字头chūnzìtóu奉、奏、秦
癶登字頭/登字头dēngzìtóu癸、発、登
目目字旁mùzìpáng盶，盷，相
罒四字頭/四字头、
扁四頭/扁四头		sìzìtóu
biǎnsìtóu		罗、罘、罚
皿皿字底、
皿墩		mǐnzìdǐ,
mǐndūn		盂、盃、盅
氺泰字底tàizìdǐ泰，暴
钅/釒金字旁jīnzìpáng钆、钇、针
禾禾木旁hémùpáng禿、秀、私
疒病字旁、
病旁、
病字頭/病字头		bìngzìpáng
bìngpáng
bìngzìtóu		疓、疔、疕
衤衣字旁、
衣補/衣补		yīzìpáng
yībǔ		初、补、衦
覀西字頭
要字头		xīzìtóu要、栗、票
聿律字旁lǜzìpáng肆, 肇
艮垦字头kěnzìtóu垦, 恳
虍虎字頭/虎字头hǔzìtóu虎、虏、虐
⺮竹字頭/竹字头zhúzìtóu竺、笃、竼
糸绞丝底jiǎosīdǐ素、紧、累
衣衣字框、
衣補/衣补		yīzìkuāng裹、衷
羊羊字旁yángzìpáng差、羚、翔
米米字旁mǐzìpáng籴、娄、籸
⻊足字旁zúzìpáng趴、趵、趷
釆番字头fānzìtóu悉、释、釉
豸豹字旁bàozìpáng豹、豺、貛
隹隹字边
隹字旁		zhuīzìbiān
zhuīzìpáng		雄、雌、谁
髟髦字头máozìtóu髦、鬓