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

他住在牌坊街附近。

Tā zhù zài páifāng jiē fùjìn.

He lives near Paifang Street.

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 zuōfáng). 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).