偏 (piān): to lean; slanted

Meanings

1 to lean; slanted
2 prejudiced; partial
3 deliberately; contrary to expectations

Characters

偏

pian

slanted; biased

Examples

这幅画挂偏了。

Zhè fú huà guà piān le.

This painting is hung crooked.

我叫他别去，他偏要去。

Wǒ jiào tā bié qù, tā piān yào qù.

I told him not to go, but he insisted on going.

他对这件事有偏见。

Tā duì zhè jiàn shì yǒu piānjiàn.

He is biased about this matter.

今天偏偏下雨了。

Jīntiān piānpiān xiàyǔ le.

Of all days, it had to rain today.

Tips

usage

As an adverb, 偏 expresses doing something contrary to advice or expectations: '偏要' = insist on doing (against someone's wishes).

usage

偏见 (piānjiàn) = prejudice, 偏偏 (piānpiān) = unfortunately/as luck would have it, 偏远 (piānyuǎn) = remote.

Components

radical

亻 rén

person (left-side radical)

Left person radical — two strokes, the compressed standing-side form of 人. Anchors 偏 in the human-attitude family alongside 偶 (mate/by chance), 倾 (lean), 仰 (look up), 俯 (look down), 倍 (multiple). Sets the central image: a person leaning to one side — physically askew, then by extension biased, partial, prejudiced.

phonetic

扁 biǎn

flat; tablet (phonetic)

Right phonetic 扁 — supplies the sound exactly (piān). Originally a flat door-tablet (户 + 册). Adds a faint flavour: a 'flat-leaning' person tilts to one side, fitting 偏's 'lean, slant.' Family: 篇, 遍, 编, 骗 — 篇/偏/遍 share 扁 and differ only in radical, easy to confuse.