镑 (bàng): pound (currency)

Measure Word

五十镑 bàng

Meanings

1 pound (currency)
2 pound (unit of weight)

Characters

镑

bàng

pound (currency/weight)

Examples

这件衣服花了五十镑。

Zhè jiàn yīfu huā le wǔshí bàng.

This piece of clothing cost fifty pounds.

英镑最近跌了不少。

Yīngbàng zuìjìn diē le bùshǎo.

The British pound has dropped quite a bit recently.

Tips

usage

镑 on its own usually refers to the British pound (英镑 yīngbàng). For weight, the more common term is 磅 (bàng).

Components

radical

钅 jīn

metal (radical form of 金)

Left-side metal radical — the indexing radical, simplified left-form of 金. Names what a pound (镑) historically was: a coined metal currency. Same family of money/metal chars: 银 (silver), 钱 (money), 铜 (copper), 铸 (cast), 铭 (inscribe).

phonetic

旁 páng

side; beside

Right-side 旁 supplies the sound — páng shifting to bàng in 镑, a clean p/b alternation typical of this phonetic series. Pure phonetic borrowing; 旁's 'side' meaning has no semantic link to currency. Same phonetic family: 傍 (lean on), 磅 (pound/scale, also 'bàng'), 谤 (slander).