(fàn): pattern, model, example

(fàn) is a Chinese character meaning “pattern.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #705 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, plant. Its radical form (grass) appears in many related characters such as (huā, flower), (chá, tea), (cài, vegetable, dish).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. pattern
  2. model
  3. example

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticplant

Decomposition: ⿱艹氾 (layout: top-bottom)

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
nounfàn wéirange5
verbshì fànto demonstrate6
noun/adjective/verbguī fànnorm6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
mó fànmodel
fáng fànto be on guard
diǎn fànmodel
fēng fànair
fàn chóucategory
jiù fànto submit
fàn r(coll.) style
fàn sī zhéVersace (fashion designer)
fàn lìexample
fàn běnmodel (example worthy of being imitated)
fàn shìparadigm
guī fàn huàto standardize
láo dòng mó fànmodel worker
西shǎn xī shī fàn dà xuéShaanxi Normal University
shī fàn dà xuénormal university
57
Total compounds
44
As first character
30
As last character
26
As middle character

appears in 57 compound words: 44 as the first character, 30 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.

wéi
0.812320,395 co-occurrences
chóu
0.69020,148 co-occurrences
shī
0.601105,852 co-occurrences
guī
0.55663,410 co-occurrences
nèi
0.538113,334 co-occurrences
zhèn
0.48049,350 co-occurrences
xué
0.469104,364 co-occurrences
yùn
0.4461,854 co-occurrences
xiá
0.44416,218 co-occurrences
yān
0.4282,856 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

shīfàn dàxuéHSK 5+

normal university (school created to train teachers)

noun
yí fàn gǔ jīnHSK 5+

to leave an example for all generations

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字虽然难写,但意思很有趣。

fàn zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

The character "范" may be difficult to write, but its meaning is quite interesting.

Hk01.comFeb 2026

44岁冰冰大晒贺年相贵气逼人 超巨型红宝石手鈪...

4 4 suì fàn bīng bīng dà shài hè nián xiāng guì qì bī rén chāo jù xíng hóng bǎo shí shǒu 鈪 . . .

44-year-old Fan Bingbing showed off his New Year's celebration and was overwhelmingly expensive, with a super giant ruby bracelet...

Fx168 Finance NetworkFeb 2026

式智能(06682.HK)澄清AI替代传...

fàn shì zhì néng ( 0 6 6 8 2 . H K ) chéng qīng A I tì dài chuán . . .

Paradigm Intelligence (06682.HK) clarifies that AI alternatives are transmitted...

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

《港楼》上水云向示单位料最快周内开放予VIP率先参观

gǎng lóu shàng shuǐ yún xiàng shì fàn dān wèi liào zuì kuài zhōu nèi kāi fàng yú V I P lǜ xiān cān guàn

The "Harbour Building" Sheung Shui Yun is expected to open to VIPs for first visit as soon as this week

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

美国波士顿台裔市长 法律人从政典

měi guó bō shì dùn tái yì shì cháng fǎ lǜ rén cóng zhèng diǎn fàn

Taiwanese mayor of Boston, USA, a model of lawyer politics

Vietnam+Feb 2026

明政总理:春节假期后首个工作日必须迅速投...

fàn míng zhèng zǒng lǐ : chūn jié jiǎ qī hòu shǒu gè gōng zuò rì bì xū xùn sù tóu . . .

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh: The first working day after the Spring Festival holiday must be quickly invested...

Tatoeba

学生不得在校园围内吸烟。

Xuésheng bù dé zài xiàoyuán fànwéi nèi xīyān.

Students are forbidden to smoke on the school grounds.

Tatoeba

他试图扩大自己的势力围。

Tā shìtú kuòdà zìjǐ de shìli fànwéi.

He tried to enlarge his sphere of influence.

Tatoeba

您可以示一下吗?

Nín kěyǐ shìfàn yīxià ma?

Can you demonstrate it?

Tatoeba

这超出了我的想像围。

Zhè chāochū le wǒ de xiǎngxiàng fànwéi.

This is beyond the scope of my imagination.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced fàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 范 (fàn) mean in Chinese?
范 (fàn) primarily means "pattern." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #705 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 范 have?
范 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 范?
The radical associated with 范 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 范?
范 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 氾 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹氾 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 范?
Common words with 范 include: 范围 (fàn wéi, "range"); 示范 (shì fàn, "to demonstrate"); 模范 (mó fàn, "model"); 防范 (fáng fàn, "to be on guard"); 规范 (guī fàn, "norm"). There are over 57 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 范 (fàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation fàn: 番 (time, foreign), 翻 (to turn over), 凡 (ordinary), 烦 (to feel vexed), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 范 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 范 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.