bān
verb HSK 7-9 #14,091

Meanings

  1. 1 to pull; to turn; to wrench
  2. 2 to recoup; to win back

Examples

Bān yíxià zhège kāiguān.
Pull this switch.
Tāmen zài xiàbànchǎng bānhuí le yì fēn.
They won back a point in the second half.

Tips

usage
扳回 is a sports term meaning to claw back a score or reverse a losing position. 扳手 is a wrench/spanner - named for the pulling motion.

Components

radical
shǒu
hand (radical form of 手)
Left hand radical - the indexing radical in its 3-stroke side form. Marks as a manual action: pulling, prying, or wrenching something physical. Anchors it in the hand-action family with (pull), (push), (drag), (grab).
phonetic
fǎn
reverse; turn over
Right side supplies the sound - fǎn shifted to bān through a labial alternation. The 'reverse / flip' meaning also fits beautifully: means to pull something back the other way (扳回 turn back, 扳手 wrench, 扳倒 wrest down). Same phonetic appears in (board), (edition), (return).

Stroke Order

bān