扇 (shān): to fan (to create a breeze; to…

Meanings

1 to fan (to create a breeze; to flap, as of wings)
2 to slap (someone's face)
3 to incite; to stir up; to instigate

Characters

扇

shān

to fan (to create a breeze; to flap, as of wings)

Examples

HSK 1

她拿扇子扇风。

Tā ná shànzi shān fēng.

She used a fan to cool herself down.

HSK 7-9

他扇了他一巴掌。

Tā shān le tā yī bāzhang.

He slapped him across the face.

HSK 7-9

别在旁边扇风点火。

Bié zài pángbiān shān fēng diǎn huǒ.

Don't fan the flames from the sidelines.

Tips

usage

Three action senses, all on shān (first tone). Literal: 扇风 (fan the air). Slap: 扇耳光 / 扇巴掌 (slap across the face) - the motion mirrors fanning. Incite: 扇动 (to flap, but also figuratively to stir up trouble), 扇风点火 (literally 'fan wind, kindle fire' - to instigate). The noun reading 扇 (fan, door-leaf, classifier) handles everything else.

Components

radical

户 hù

door; household

Outer-upper door radical - the indexing component (Kangxi #63). Pictures a single-leaf door (one half of 門). The original meaning of 扇 was 'a door-leaf,' hence the door radical. From there extended to anything that opens and closes like a door panel: a fan, a shutter, paired leaves.

semantic

羽 yǔ

feathers; wings

Inner-lower feather radical - depicts paired feathers. Combined with the door above, the image is a feathered hand-fan opening like a door-leaf, the canonical fan made of bird feathers. Drives the modern reading shàn ('fan') and the verbal sense of fanning the air. Same family as 翅 (wing), 翼 (wing).