派 (pài): tributary; branch of a river

Meanings

1 tributary; branch of a river
2 clique; school; group; faction
3 style; manner
4 to send; to dispatch; to allocate; to appoint
5 classifier for factions, groups
6 classifier (preceded by 一) for a scene, atmosphere, sound, or demeanor
7 pi (Greek letter Π, π); the circular ratio
8 pie

Characters

Left 氵 (water) pictures a river branching into streams — the source image for 'tributary,' 'school of thought' (a branch of disciples), and 'to dispatch' (to send off in a direction).

Examples

公司派他去出差。

Gōngsī pài tā qù chūchāi.

The company sent him on a business trip.

他属于改革派。

Tā shǔyú gǎigé pài.

He belongs to the reformist school.

他很有派。

Tā hěn yǒu pài.

He has a lot of style.

眼前一派繁荣景象。

Yǎnqián yī pài fánróng jǐngxiàng.

A scene of prosperity unfolded before our eyes.

Tips

usage

Three main hats: (1) verb 'to dispatch / assign' — 派人 (send someone), 分派 (assign), 派遣 (dispatch). (2) Noun 'faction / school' — 保守派 (conservatives), 学派 (school of thought), 印象派 (Impressionism). (3) Classifier preceded by 一 for a whole atmosphere or scene — 一派繁荣 (a scene of prosperity), 一派胡言 (a load of nonsense).

register

Modern loanword uses: 派 transliterates English 'pie' (苹果派 apple pie, 蛋黄派 egg-yolk pie) and the Greek letter π (派 = 3.14159...). It also fronts 'party' in 派对. A rare second reading pā exists only in the dated loanword 派司 ('pass / ticket', from English 'pass') — niche, mostly historical, and not used in everyday speech.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water

Three-drop water radical 氵 on the left — left-side form of 水. The original sense of 派 was a branching stream, a river splitting into tributaries. From the picture of dividing waters came 'faction' (a branch of thought), 'school' (a stream of disciples), and 'to dispatch.' Family: 流 (flow), 河 (river).

phonetic

氏 shì

branching stream (fused; phonetic)

Right side covers 6 strokes but standalone 氏 is only 4 — the upper 2 strokes are a fused remnant of an inverted 'water-branching' graphic with no clean modern form. The right side supplies the sound (drifted to pài) and reinforces the splitting-water imagery.