排 (pái): to arrange

Meanings

1 to arrange
2 row
3 to line up

Characters

排

pái

row; line; arrange

Examples

请排好队。

Qǐng pái hǎo duì.

Please line up properly.

第一排的座位最好。

Dìyī pái de zuòwèi zuì hǎo.

The seats in the first row are the best.

我们把桌子排好。

Wǒmen bǎ zhuōzi pái hǎo.

Let's arrange the tables.

Tips

usage

As a noun, 排 means row: 第三排 (the third row). As a verb, to arrange or line up.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (left-side form of 手)

Hand radical on the left — arranging things into rows, pushing aside, lining up are all manual actions. Same radical anchors 排 with 拉 pull, 推 push, 打 hit, 抓 grab. Whether you 排队 (line up) or 排除 (push out), the hand is doing the work.

phonetic

非 fēi

not; wrong; opposite

Right side 非 supplies the sound: fēi drifted to pái with regular f/p alternation. Faint semantic bonus: 非 pictures two wings spread out in opposite directions — the original symmetry image fits 排 'arrange in a row' beautifully. Same phonetic also gives 啡 (coffee), 排, 徘 (wander).