班 (bān): team, class, grade, (military) squad, work shift
班 (bān) is a Chinese character meaning “team.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 王 (structural), 刂 (structural) and 王 (structural). It ranks #884 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 班 cutting 刂 a piece of jade 王 in two, symbolizing two classes. Its radical form 王 (jade) appears in many related characters such as 玩 (wán, to play), 现 (xiàn, to appear), 球 (qiú, ball used for playing games (variant of 球)).
Definitions
- team
- class
- grade
- (military) squad
- work shift
Etymology & Origin
ideographicCutting 刂 a piece of jade 王 in two, symbolizing two classes
Decomposition: ⿲王刂王 (layout: left-middle-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 班 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 班
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 上班verb | shàng bān | to go to work | 1 |
| 航班noun | háng bān | (scheduled) flight | 4 |
| 下班verb | xià bān | to finish work | 1 |
| 加班verb | jiā bān | to work overtime | 4 |
| 值班verb | zhí bān | to work a shift | 6 |
| 班级noun | bān jí | class (group of students) | 3 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 西班牙proper-noun | xī bān yá | Spain |
| 西班牙语 | xī bān yá yǔ | Spanish language |
| 夜班noun | yè bān | night shift |
| 班机noun | bān jī | airliner |
| 跟班verb | gēn bān | attendant |
| 班长noun | bān zhǎng | class monitor |
| 当班verb | dāng bān | to work one's shift |
| 换班verb | huàn bān | to change shift |
| 轮班verb | lún bān | shift working |
| 班车noun | bān chē | regular bus (service) |
| 塔利班 | tǎ lì bān | the Taliban, Islamist organization that emerged in the mid-1990s in Afghanistan |
| 按部就班phrase | àn bù jiù bān | (idiom) to follow the prescribed order |
| 全班 | quán bān | the whole class |
| 晚班noun | wǎn bān | night shift |
| 早班noun | zǎo bān | early shift |
班 appears in 103 compound words: 36 as the first character, 55 as the last, and 9 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 班 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (6)
to do something in an orderly manner; to follow the prescribed order; to keep to the conventional ways
to show off one's inferior talent or skill in front of an expert; to teach an expert how to do things
Example Sentences
我们班有三十个学生，大家相处得很融洽。
Wǒmen bān yǒu sānshí gè xuéshēng, dàjiā xiāngchǔ de hěn róngqià.
There are thirty students in our class, and everyone gets along very well.
...走进中国〉春节商机!电话接不完 美甲师加班到凌晨三点
. . . zǒu jìn zhōng guó chūn jié shāng jī ! diàn huà jiē bù wán měi jiǎ shī jiā bān dào líng chén sān diǎn
... Entering China〉 Spring Festival business opportunities! The phone can't be answered, and the nail technician works overtime until three o'clock in the morning
受冬季风暴影响 美国数千架次航班被取消
shòu dōng jì fēng bào yǐng xiǎng měi guó shǔ qiān jià cì háng bān bèi qǔ xiāo
Thousands of flights in the United States were canceled due to the winter storm
马年新春第一班,武汉95后高铁司机的“飞驰人生”
mǎ nián xīn chūn dì yī bān , wǔ hàn hòu gāo tiě sī jī de fēi chí rén shēng
The first shift in the New Year of the Horse, Wuhan 95 high-speed train driver's "flying life".
大湾区航空飞往台北航班遇大雾盘旋后折返,航司回应:..
dà wān ōu háng kōng fēi wǎng tái běi háng bān yù dà wù pán xuán hòu shé fǎn , háng sī huí yīng . .
The flight to Taipei of the Greater Bay Area Airline in the fog circled after turning back, the airline company responded:...
春节不打烊,广州交投集团中欧班列预计发运9列、货值..
chūn jié bù dǎ 烊 , guǎng zhōu jiāo tóu jí tuán zhōng ōu bān liè yù jì fā yùn liè huò zhí . .
Guangzhou Transport Investment Group's China-Europe freight trains to operate throughout Spring Festival, with 9 trains scheduled to depart carrying goods worth...
这个班有多少男生？
Zhège bān yǒu duōshao nánshēng?
How many boys are in this class?
你们一般几点下班？
Nǐmen yībān jǐdiǎn xiàbān?
When do you usually get off work?
这班火车几点钟开？
Zhè bān huǒchē jǐ diǎn zhōng kāi?
What time does the train leave from here?
你班里有没有一个叫做珀西的人？
Nǐ bān lǐ yǒuméiyǒu yī gè jiàozuò pò xī de rén?
Is there a Percy in your class?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 班 (bān)?
Is 班 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 班 with real-time feedback
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