喷 (pèn) · (of a smell) strong; rich

Meanings

1 (of a smell) strong; rich
2 peak season (of a crop)

Characters

喷

pèn

(of a smell) strong; rich

Examples

HSK 6

桌上端来一碗喷香的牛肉面。

Zhuōshàng duān lái yì wǎn pènxiāng de niúròumiàn.

A bowl of piping, savory beef noodles was set on the table.

HSK 7-9

刚出炉的面包香喷喷的。

Gāng chūlú de miànbāo xiāngpēnpēn de.

Just out of the oven, the bread smells wonderfully fragrant.

Tips

usage

The pèn reading describes a strong, mouthwatering smell. It appears in 香喷喷 and 喷香 (deliciously fragrant), and in farm talk for the peak picking season of a crop, as in 'the first 喷 of cotton.' Note that in 香喷喷 the doubled syllables are commonly heard as pēn even though the headword sense is pèn.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Mouth radical on the left, the indexing radical. It supplies meaning: a 喷 is something forcefully ejected through an opening, often the mouth (sneezing, spitting, spraying). The radical also anchors it in the breath family with 吹 (blow), 吐 (spit out), 吸 (inhale).

phonetic

贲 bēn

rush; ornate

贲 supplies the sound, with the initial drifting to give pēn. The same phonetic stem also drives 愤 (indignant) and 坟 (grave-mound). 贲 itself is a rare word meaning 'to rush forth,' a fitting flavor for breath or liquid bursting out.