坊 (fāng): lane (in street names)

Meanings

1 lane (in street names)
2 memorial archway
3 workshop
4 mill

Characters

坊

fāng

lane; workshop; archway

Examples

HSK 4

他住在牌坊街附近。

Tā zhù zài páifāng jiē fùjìn.

He lives near Paifang Street.

HSK 7-9

这条巷子叫三元坊。

Zhè tiáo xiàngzi jiào Sān yuán fāng.

This alley is called Sanyuanfang.

Tips

mistakes

Two pronunciations: fāng (lane, archway, used in place names) and fáng (workshop, mill, as in 作坊). The meaning changes with the tone.

history

In ancient Chinese cities, 坊 were walled residential wards with gates that closed at night. Many old Beijing street names preserve 坊.

Components

radical

土 tǔ

earth; soil

土 (earth) supplies the indexing radical. A 坊 is a neighbourhood, workshop or memorial gate, all things built on the ground, marked off as plots of land. The earth radical groups it with 城 (city), 坝 (dam), 场 (yard) and other man-shaped pieces of terrain.

phonetic

方 fāng

square; direction; place

方 (fāng) supplies the sound, unchanged. 方 also doubles as a faint semantic: neighbourhoods and workshops are rectangular precincts in the old city grid. Same phonetic series gives 房 (house), 防 (defend), 访 (visit) and 仿 (imitate).