潘 (Pān): Pan (surname)

Meanings

1 Pan (surname)
2 water in which rice has been washed

Characters

潘

pān

surname Pan; rice-washing water

Examples

潘先生是我们的新老师。

Pān xiānsheng shì wǒmen de xīn lǎoshī.

Mr. Pan is our new teacher.

她姓潘。

Tā xìng Pān.

Her surname is Pan.

Tips

history

潘 is an ancient Chinese surname. The original meaning 'rice-washing water' is rarely used today. The character combines 氵(water) and 番 (foreign/times), reflecting the washing meaning.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form of 水)

Left-side water radical, the three-drop form of 水. Originally 潘 named the cloudy water left after washing rice; that watery meaning is now archaic and the character survives almost entirely as the Pān surname, but the radical preserves the etymology.

phonetic

番 fān

turn; time (here phonetic)

Right side 番 supplies the sound — fān drifting to Pān along an old labial alternation. The 'turn, occurrence' meaning is not transferred; 番 is purely a sound tag. Same phonetic family includes 翻 to flip, 蕃 luxuriant, 藩 fence, 鄱 (place name Poyang Lake).