颁 (bān): to promulgate

Meanings

1 to promulgate
2 to issue
3 to grant
4 to confer

Characters

颁

bān

to promulgate; to issue

Examples

总统颁布了一项新法令。

Zǒngtǒng bānbù le yī xiàng xīn fǎlìng.

The president promulgated a new decree.

Tips

usage

A bound form that appears in compounds: 颁布 (to promulgate), 颁发 (to issue/award), 颁奖 (to present an award).

Components

radical

页 yè

head; page

Right side 页 is the head/page radical, the indexing component and a simplified form of 頁. Originally a pictograph of a head with hair on top. In 颁 the 'head' supplies the picture of awards/rewards being conferred head-by-head to recipients. Sister chars: 颂 praise, 颈 neck, 颜 face, 顶 top.

phonetic

分 fēn

to divide; to distribute

Left side 分 fēn supplies the sound with a regular nasal-final shift fēn → bān (-ēn to -ān). It also lends meaning: 颁 originally meant 'to share out, to distribute to many heads' — the giving-out aspect comes straight from 分. Phonetic family includes 盼 hope-for, 扮 dress as.