槃 (pán): (variant of 盘) tray / plate

Meanings

1 (variant of 盘) tray / plate
2 (used in 涅槃 nirvana)
3 to coil / wind

Characters

槃

pán

tray / variant of 盘

Examples

涅槃是佛教的最高境界。

Nièpán shì Fójiào de zuìgāo jìngjiè.

Nirvana is the highest state in Buddhism.

槃是盘的异体字。

Pán shì pán de yì tǐ zì.

槃 is a variant form of 盘.

Tips

history

槃 is an old variant of 盘 (pán, 'tray/plate'), almost exclusively preserved today in 涅槃 (nièpán) — the Buddhist transliteration of Sanskrit nirvāṇa, meaning the extinction of suffering and rebirth. The 槃 was kept in this term to mark its scriptural status. Outside 涅槃, modern Chinese uses 盘.

Components

radical

木 mù

tree; wood

Bottom wood radical — the indexing radical. Pictograph of a tree with trunk and roots. Marks 槃 as a wooden object: a round wooden tray or plate. Family: 桌 table, 板 plank, 杯 cup, 棒 stick. The standalone modern 盘 substitutes 皿 (dish) for 木 (wood), reflecting the shift to non-wooden trays.

phonetic

般 pán

sort; kind (here phonetic + semantic)

Top 般 (boat + weapon) supplies the sound pán (exact match) and the rotational meaning — 般 originally depicted turning a boat with a pole. That 'turning, circling' sense feeds into 槃: a circular tray, and the Buddhist 涅槃 nirvana — a 'rounding-off' of existence.