盼

pàn
verb HSK 7-9 #7,145

Meanings

  1. 1 to hope for
  2. 2 to long for

Examples

HSK 2
Wǒmen tiāntiān pàn zhe nǐ huílai.
Every day we long for you to come back.
HSK 6
孩子们都盼望着过年。
Háizimen dōu pànwàng zhe guònián.
The children are all looking forward to Chinese New Year.

Tips

memory
目 (eye) + 分 (to divide) - eyes scanning for what you hope to see

Components

radical
目 mù
eye
Left indexing eye radical - a pictograph of an eye stood on end, the long axis vertical. Anchors 盼 in the seeing-and-watching family alongside 看 (look), 眼 (eye), 睡 (sleep), 瞧 (peep). To hope for something is to look toward it eagerly - the eye sets the meaning frame.
phonetic
分 fēn
to divide (here phonetic)
Right 分 supplies the sound (fēn → pàn through f/p alternation in Old Chinese). Same phonetic family: 份 portion, 纷 numerous, 粉 powder. 分 originally depicted a knife splitting something in two, lending a faint hint of "dividing the gaze" - eyes that gaze and divide the distance.

Stroke Order

盼 pàn