旁

páng
noun #2,889

Meanings

  1. 1 side; beside
  2. 2 other

Examples

HSK 1
Qǐngzuò zài wǒ pángbiān.
Please sit beside me.
HSK 2
Pángbiān yǒu yìjiā kāfēidiàn.
There's a coffee shop nearby.
HSK 5
Lùpáng de jiànzhù fēnggé hěn yǒu tèsè.
The buildings along the roadside have a distinctive style.

Tips

usage
旁 is mainly used in 旁边 (beside/next to). Also in 路旁 (roadside), 旁观 (to look on), 旁听 (to audit a class). Compare with 边 - 旁边 uses both!

Components

radical
方 fāng
direction; side
Bottom 方 - the indexing radical (Kangxi #70), originally a plough-like implement, later 'direction.' Carries the 'side' sense directly: 方 already meant 'square / orientation,' and 旁 specialises that into 'lateral side, beside.' Same radical anchors 放, 旅, 族, 旗.
semantic
立 lì
stand; upright
Top 4 strokes - graphically the 立 (stand) shape, in 旁 a contracted phonetic residue (an Ext-A glyph in the older form). Modern pedagogy reads this slot as 'standing upright at the side.' Combined with 冖 below it sketches a figure positioned next to something rather than over it. Same shape sits atop 帝 and 章.
semantic
冖 mì
cover
Middle two strokes - the cover-shape, a roof with hooked ends. In 旁 it sits as a horizontal canopy above 方, separating the upper standing-figure from the directional 方 below. Reinforces 'positioned beside, not on top of.' The whole char is indexed under Kangxi #70 方 - the square radical below.

Stroke Order

旁 páng