(bǎn): a register, block of printing, edition

(bǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “a register.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #810 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, page. Its radical form (slice) appears in many related characters such as (piàn, thin piece), (pái, signboard).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. a register
  2. block of printing
  3. edition

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticpage

Decomposition: ⿰片反 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbchū bǎnto publish5
nounbǎn běnversion6
noundiàn zǐ bǎnelectronic edition5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
tóu bǎn(newspaper's) front page
chū bǎn shèpublishing house
bǎn quáncopyright
bǎn miànpage of a publication (e.g. newspaper or website)
dào bǎnpirated
fān bǎnto reprint
chū bǎn wùpublications
bǎn shuìroyalty (on books)
bǎn túdomain
jué bǎnout of print
pái bǎntypesetting
xīn bǎnnew edition
bǎn kuàiprinting block
gǎi bǎnto revise the current edition
mú bǎnvariant of 模板[mu2 ban3]
84
Total compounds
17
As first character
57
As last character
26
As middle character

appears in 84 compound words: 17 as the first character, 57 as the last, and 26 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

chū
0.6411,508,904 co-occurrences
shè
0.619574,248 co-occurrences
běn
0.591902,305 co-occurrences
dié
0.44919,866 co-occurrences
shuā
0.44722,986 co-occurrences
màn
0.39832,718 co-occurrences
wén
0.397234,372 co-occurrences
xiàn
0.38763,162 co-occurrences
0.38143,266 co-occurrences
fān
0.37625,326 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

bǎnquán suǒyǒuHSK 5+

all rights reserved

phrase
jiāo bǎn yìn shuāHSK 6+

offset printing

phrase
kǒng bǎn yìn shuāHSK 7+

screen printing

phrase
tū bǎn yìn shuāHSK 7+

relief printing; typography; printing with metal plates

phrase
西XīshuāngbǎnnàHSK 6+

Xishuangbanna (an autonomous prefecture of Yunnan, China)

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě bǎn zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

This character "版" had different meanings in Classical Chinese.

99 健康网Feb 2026

...糖的食品有哪些?饮料、糕点、酸奶都有无糖

. . . táng de shí pǐn yǒu nǎ xiē ? yǐn liào , gāo diǎn , suān nǎi dōu yǒu wú táng bǎn ma

... What are the foods with sugar? Do drinks, pastries, and yogurt have sugar-free versions?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

川普政府传考虑扩大“232关税”图 新增六类产业课征国安税

chuān pǔ zhèng fǔ chuán kǎo lǜ kuò dà 2 3 2 guān shuì bǎn tú xīn zēng liù lèi chǎn yè kè zhēng guó ān shuì

The Trump administration is rumored to be considering expanding the territory of the "232 tariffs" and adding six new types of industries to impose national security taxes

LtnFeb 2026

张立昂首挑战日《七色》 疗愈声线连日本歌手都服了

zhāng lì áng shǒu tiāo zhàn rì bǎn qī sè liáo yù shēng xiàn lián rì běn gē shǒu dōu fú le

Zhang Li challenged the Japanese version of "Seven Colors" with his head held high, and even Japanese singers were convinced by his healing voice

StheadlineFeb 2026

...犬离世 研宠物健康App 目标打造“宠物医健通”

. . . quǎn lí shì yán chǒng wù jiàn kāng A p p mù biāo dǎ zào chǒng wù bǎn yī jiàn tōng

... The dog passed away, and the pet health app aims to create a "pet version of medical health"

It之家Feb 2026

...I Turbo 5 Max 手机 1T 本备货极少,卖完就没了

. . . I T u r b o 5 M a x shǒu jī 1 T bǎn běn bèi huò jí shǎo , mài wán jiù méi le

... The I Turbo 5 Max phone 1T version is in very little stock and is sold out

Tatoeba

我妥善保管原拷贝。

Wǒ tuǒshàn bǎoguǎn yuán bǎn kǎobèi.

I keep the master copy under lock and key.

Tatoeba

你有听过那首歌的法文本吗?

Nǐ yǒu tīng guo nà shǒu gē de Fǎwén bǎnběn ma?

Have you ever heard that song sung in French?

Tatoeba

第一还是第二的本比较齐全?

Dìyī háishi dì'èr de bǎnběn bǐjiào qíquán?

Which is more complete, the first edition or the second?

Tatoeba

你喜欢盗电影吗?

Nǐ xǐhuan dàobǎn diànyǐng ma?

Do you like pirate movies?

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the slice radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced bǎn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 版 (bǎn) mean in Chinese?
版 (bǎn) primarily means "a register." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #810 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 版 and 饭?
版 (bǎn) and 饭 (fàn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 片 vs 饣 (same 反 component).
How many strokes does 版 have?
版 is written with 8 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 版?
The radical associated with 版 is 片 (slice). This radical appears in many characters related to slice.
What are the components of 版?
版 is composed of: 片 (semantic), 反 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰片反 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 版?
Common words with 版 include: 出版 (chū bǎn, "to publish"); 版本 (bǎn běn, "version"); 头版 (tóu bǎn, "(newspaper's) front page"); 出版社 (chū bǎn shè, "publishing house"); 版权 (bǎn quán, "copyright"). There are over 84 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 版 (bǎn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bǎn: 扳 (to pull), 板 (board, plank), 班 (team), 般 (sort), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 版 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 版 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.