扁 (biǎn): flat; thin and wide

Meanings

1 flat; thin and wide
2 flattened

Characters

扁

biǎn

flat; thin

Examples

这个盒子被压扁了。

Zhège hézi bèi yā biǎn le.

This box got flattened.

扁豆是一种常见的蔬菜。

Biǎndòu shì yī zhǒng chángjiàn de shūcài.

Flat beans are a common vegetable.

他的鼻子有点扁。

Tā de bízi yǒudiǎn biǎn.

His nose is a bit flat.

轮胎被扎扁了。

Lúntāi bèi zhā biǎn le.

The tire was punctured flat.

Tips

usage

压扁 (yā biǎn) means 'to flatten by pressing.' 扁平 (biǎnpíng) is the more formal word for 'flat.' 扁担 (biǎndan) is a carrying pole. The colloquial 看扁 (kànbiǎn) means 'to look down on' or 'to underestimate'.

register

扁 has a rare second reading piān 'small', preserved only in the classical-poetic compound 扁舟 (piānzhōu, 'small boat / skiff'). You will meet it in Tang and Song poetry — Li Bai's 轻舟已过万重山 type imagery — but never in modern everyday speech. Default to biǎn in all ordinary use.

Components

radical

户 hù

single-leaf door (radical)

Top door radical — the indexing radical, depicting one half of a hinged double door. Inscribed wooden plaques hung over Chinese gates were called 匾, originally written 扁; the door radical preserves the 'thing fixed above an entrance' frame. Same radical sits in 房 room, 启 to open, 所 place.

semantic

册 cè

bound bamboo strips; volume (semantic)

Bottom 册 — pictographically a bundle of bamboo writing slips bound together with cord. A flat document of bound strips is exactly what an inscribed door-plaque resembles. Compound ideograph: door + flat bound strips = the flat inscribed sign hung above a doorway, hence 扁 'flat, thin and wide.'