瓣 (bàn): petal

Meanings

1 petal
2 segment (of fruit)
3 clove (of garlic)
4 piece; section
5 classifier for pieces or segments

Characters

瓣

bàn

petal; segment; section

Examples

这朵花有五个花瓣。

Zhè duǒ huā yǒu wǔ gè huābàn.

This flower has five petals.

我需要两瓣蒜。

Wǒ xūyào liǎng bàn suàn.

I need two cloves of garlic.

Tips

usage

瓣 doubles as a measure word for segments of garlic (蒜瓣), orange wedges, etc. Common compounds: 花瓣 (petal), 蒜瓣 (garlic clove), 瓣膜 (valve, biological).

Components

radical

瓜 guā

melon; gourd

Middle melon radical — the indexing radical here, a pictograph of a gourd hanging from its vine with the tendrils curling out. It anchors 瓣 in the melon-and-fruit family. A 瓣 is literally one segment of a sliced melon, which then generalized to 'petal' (flower segment), 'clove' (garlic segment), and the classifier for sectioned things.

semantic

辛 xīn

bitter; tattooing knife

Left 辛 — a pictograph of a tattooing or scoring knife, here paired with its mirror twin on the right. The two 辛 flanking 瓜 frame the picture: a melon being scored or split open along its natural lines. Provides no sound, only the cutting-action imagery that gives 瓣 its 'split into sections' meaning.

semantic

辛 xīn

bitter; tattooing knife

Right 辛 mirrors the left — the same blade-graph repeated. The reduplication is the visual signature of 瓣: a melon caught between two cutting tools, scored down the middle. Same flanking pattern appears in 辨 distinguish and 辩 debate, all sharing the 'two knives separating things' framework.