偏 (piān): to lean; slanted

Meanings

1 to lean; slanted
2 prejudiced; partial
3 deliberately; contrary to expectations

Characters

偏

piān

slanted; biased

Examples

HSK 1

我叫他别去，他偏要去。

Wǒ jiào tā bié qù, tā piān yào qù.

I told him not to go, but he insisted on going.

HSK 2

他对这件事有偏见。

Tā duì zhè jiàn shì yǒu piānjiàn.

He is biased about this matter.

HSK 5

这幅画挂偏了。

Zhè fú huà guà piān le.

This painting is hung crooked.

Tips

usage

As an adverb, 偏 expresses doing something contrary to advice or expectations: '偏要' = insist on doing (against someone's wishes).

usage

偏见 (piānjiàn) = prejudice, 偏偏 (piānpiān) = unfortunately/as luck would have it, 偏远 (piānyuǎn) = remote.

Components

radical

亻 rén

person (left-side radical)

Left person radical - two strokes, the compressed standing-side form of 人. Anchors 偏 in the human-attitude family alongside 偶 (mate/by chance), 倾 (lean), 仰 (look up), 俯 (look down), 倍 (multiple). Sets the central image: a person leaning to one side - physically askew, then by extension biased, partial, prejudiced.

phonetic

扁 biǎn

flat; tablet (phonetic)

Right phonetic 扁 - supplies the sound exactly (piān). Originally a flat door-tablet (户 + 册). Adds a faint flavour: a 'flat-leaning' person tilts to one side, fitting 偏's 'lean, slant.' Family: 篇, 遍, 编, 骗 - 篇/偏/遍 share 扁 and differ only in radical, easy to confuse.