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彷

páng
particle #32,689

Meanings

  1. 1 bound form used in 彷徨 (pánghuáng, 'to pace back and forth, to hesitate') and 彷徉 (pángyáng, 'to wander aimlessly')
  2. 2 (also read fǎng) variant of 仿, as in 彷佛 = 仿佛 (fǎngfú, 'as if, seemingly')

Examples

他在十字路口彷徨了很久,不知该往哪走。
Tā zài shízì lùkǒu pánghuáng le hěn jiǔ, bù zhī gāi wǎng nǎ zǒu.
He hesitated at the crossroads for a long time, not knowing which way to go.
彷佛(=仿佛)还能听见母亲的呼唤。
Fǎngfú hái néng tīngjiàn mǔqīn de hūhuàn.
It's as if I can still hear mother calling.

Tips

usage
彷 doesn't stand alone in modern Chinese — it's a bound morpheme. Two readings: páng in 彷徨/彷徉 (pacing, wandering — Lu Xun's 1926 short-story collection 《彷徨》 'Wandering' uses this reading); fǎng in 彷佛 (a literary variant of 仿佛 'as if'). The character is 彳 (step) + 方 (direction / square) — 'stepping in directions', i.e. wandering.
history
Lu Xun's 《彷徨》 (1926) — together with 《呐喊》 (Call to Arms, 1923) — is one of the foundational collections of modern Chinese literature; the title captures the disorientation of intellectuals in early Republican China.

Stroke Order

彷 páng