伴 (bàn): partner, companion, comrade, associate, to accompany

伴 (bàn) is a Chinese character meaning “partner.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (semantic) and 半 (phonetic). It ranks #1290 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 伴 person. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 什 (shén, what), 今 (jīn, now).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. partner
  2. companion
  3. comrade
  4. associate
  5. to accompany

Etymology & Origin

伴

pictophoneticperson

Decomposition: ⿰亻半 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Practice writing 伴 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 伴

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
伙伴nounhuǒ bànvariant of 夥伴|伙伴5
同伴nountóng bàncompanion6
陪伴verbpéi bànto accompany5
伴随verbbàn suíto accompany6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
伴侣nounbàn lǚcompanion
舞伴nounwǔ bàndancing partner
伴娘nounbàn niángbridesmaid
伴郎nounbàn lángbest man
女伴nounnǚ bànfemale companion
相伴xiāng bànto accompany sb
伴奏verbbàn zòuto accompany (musically)
作伴verbzuò bànto accompany
做伴verbzuò bànto keep sb company
伴唱verbbàn chàngto sing backup
老伴nounlǎo bàn(of an elderly couple) husband or wife
伴舞verbbàn wǔto be a dancing partner to sb
结伴verbjié bànto go with sb
伴有verbbàn yǒuto be accompanied by
旅伴lǚ bàntravel companion
53
Total compounds
32
As first character
51
As last character
17
As middle character

伴 appears in 53 compound words: 32 as the first character, 51 as the last, and 17 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 伴 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

伙huǒ
0.67618,982 co-occurrences
侣lǚ
0.6726,643 co-occurrences
陪péi
0.61710,548 co-occurrences
奏zòu
0.57814,322 co-occurrences
随suí
0.4839,158 co-occurrences
同tóng
0.43522,892 co-occurrences
脏zāng
0.42914 co-occurrences
玩wán
0.4253,644 co-occurrences
着zhe
0.4235,116 co-occurrences
琴qín
0.4142,462 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

呼朋引伴hū péng yǐn bànHSK 5+

to gather one's friends; to band together

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

那个伴影在月光下显得格外孤独。

nā gě bàn yǐng zài yuè guāng xià xiǎn dé gé wài gū dú .

That companion figure appeared especially lonely in the moonlight.

LtnFeb 2026

太可爱!猫头鹰以为找到同伴 飞入商店货架安睡

tài kě ài ! māo tóu yīng yǐ wéi zhǎo dào tóng bàn fēi rù shāng diàn huò jià ān shuì

So cute! The owl thought it had found a companion and flew into the store shelves to sleep

99 健康网Feb 2026

宫腔内不均质高回声是什么意思?伴有血流信号风险更高吗

gōng qiāng nèi bù jūn zhì gāo huí shēng shì shén má yì sī ? bàn yǒu xiě liú xìn hào fēng xiǎn gēng gāo ma

What does inhomogeneous hyperechoic in the uterine cavity mean? Is there a higher risk associated with blood flow signals?

LtnFeb 2026

美财长:与贸易夥伴联系 各国盼维持既有关税协议

měi cái cháng : yǔ mào yì 夥 bàn lián xì gè guó pàn wéi chí jì yǒu guān shuì xié yì

U.S. Treasury Secretary: Liaising with trading partners Countries hope to maintain existing tariff agreements

StheadlineFeb 2026

...自测健康 这2种颜色恐患胰脏癌/大肠癌 伴随3情况须求医

. . . zì cè jiàn kāng zhè 2 zhǒng yán sè kǒng huàn 胰 zāng ái dà cháng ái bàn suí 3 qíng kuàng xū qiú yī

... Self-test health These 2 colors may cause pancreatic cancer/colorectal cancer with 3 conditions must seek medical attention

百度新闻Feb 2026

...交建集团彭大、灵华高速以坚守护平安 以陪伴庆..

. . . jiāo jiàn jí tuán 彭 dà , líng huá gāo sù yǐ jiān shǒu hù píng ān yǐ péi bàn qìng . .

... Communications Construction Group Peng Da and Linghua Expressway to protect safety to accompany Qing:

Tatoeba

我为她作钢琴伴奏。

Wǒ wèi tā zuò gāngqín bànzòu.

I accompanied her on the piano.

Tatoeba

总统出国通常有妻子陪伴。

Zǒngtǒng chūguó tōngcháng yǒu qīzi péibàn.

The President is usually accompanied by his wife when he goes abroad.

Tatoeba

敌人的敌人就是同伴。

Dírén de dírén jiùshì tóngbàn.

An enemy of an enemy is a friend.

Tatoeba

他的狗是他的好伴侣。

Tā de gǒu shì tā de hǎo bànlǚ.

His dog is his good companion.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 亻 (person) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced bàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 伴 (bàn) mean in Chinese?
伴 (bàn) primarily means "partner." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1290 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 伴 and 判?
伴 (bàn) and 判 (pàn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 亻 vs 刂 (same 半 component).
How many strokes does 伴 have?
伴 is written with 7 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 伴?
The radical associated with 伴 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 伴?
伴 is composed of: 亻 (semantic), 半 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻半 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 伴?
Common words with 伴 include: 伙伴 (huǒ bàn, "variant of 夥伴|伙伴"); 同伴 (tóng bàn, "companion"); 伴侣 (bàn lǚ, "companion"); 舞伴 (wǔ bàn, "dancing partner"); 陪伴 (péi bàn, "to accompany"). There are over 53 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 伴 (bàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bàn: 拌 (to mix), 绊 (to trip), 办 (to take care of (a matter)), 半 (half), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 伴 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 伴 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 伴 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.