páng
noun HSK 5 #2,889

Meanings

  1. 1 side; beside
  2. 2 other

Examples

Qǐngzuò zài wǒ pángbiān.
Please sit beside me.
Pángbiān yǒu yījiā kāfēidiàn.
There's a coffee shop nearby.

Tips

usage
is mainly used in 旁边 (beside/next to). Also in 路旁 (roadside), 旁观 (to look on), 旁听 (to audit a class). Compare with 旁边 uses both!

Components

radical
fāng
direction; side
Bottom — the indexing radical (Kangxi #70), originally a plough-like implement, later 'direction.' Carries the 'side' sense directly: already meant 'square / orientation,' and specialises that into 'lateral side, beside.' Same radical anchors , , , .
semantic
stand; upright
Top 4 strokes — graphically the (stand) shape, in a contracted phonetic residue (an Ext-A glyph in the older form). Modern pedagogy reads this slot as 'standing upright at the side.' Combined with below it sketches a figure positioned next to something rather than over it. Same shape sits atop and .
semantic
cover
Middle two strokes — the cover-shape, a roof with hooked ends. In it sits as a horizontal canopy above , separating the upper standing-figure from the directional below. Reinforces 'positioned beside, not on top of.' The whole char is indexed under Kangxi #70 (fāng) — the square radical below.

Stroke Order

páng