番 (fān): a time; an occurrence; a bout

Meanings

1 a time; an occurrence; a bout
2 foreign; from abroad
3 to double; -fold

Characters

番

fān

a time; a turn; foreign

Examples

HSK 3

经过一番努力，他终于成功了。

Jīngguò yīfān nǔlì, tā zhōngyú chénggōng le.

After a great deal of effort, he finally succeeded.

HSK 4

让我好好考虑一番。

Ràngwǒ hǎohāo kǎolǜ yīfān.

Let me give it careful thought.

HSK 6

产量翻了一番。

Chǎnliàng fān le yīfān.

Production has doubled.

Tips

usage

一番 is used before abstract nouns to mean 'a bout/spell of': 一番努力 (a great effort), 一番话 (a set of words/remarks), 一番心意 (a gesture of goodwill). 翻一番 specifically means 'to double.'

usage

As a prefix meaning 'foreign': 番茄 (tomato, literally 'foreign eggplant'), 番薯 (sweet potato, literally 'foreign yam'). These words reflect when these crops came to China from abroad.

register

Read fān for the classifier and 'foreign' senses. As a surname and in the place name 番禺 (Panyu, a district of Guangzhou) it is read Pān instead.

Components

radical

田 tián

field; farmland

Bottom field radical - the indexing radical. The whole pictogram: animal paw-prints across a cultivated field. From the image of one round of prints came the 'a time / round' classifier; from 'tracks of foreign beasts' came the 'foreign' meaning preserved in 番茄 (tomato) and 番薯 (sweet potato).

semantic

釆 biàn

animal tracks (pictograph)

Top 釆 - a pictograph of an animal paw print (visually distinct from 采 'to pick' by the small bottom dot, and unrelated to 米 'rice'). Originally 番 depicted footprints in a field, hence the 'turn / time / round' classifier and the 'change' senses (番茄 was 'foreign tomato' = trail of foreign tracks).