浜 (bāng): small stream

Measure Word

一条浜 tiáo

Meanings

1 small stream
2 creek (especially in Wu-speaking regions)

Characters

浜

bāng

small stream

Examples

村口有一条小浜。

Cūnkǒu yǒu yī tiáo xiǎo bāng.

There is a small creek at the entrance of the village.

上海的老地名里常常有浜字。

Shànghǎi de lǎo dìmíng lǐ chángcháng yǒu bāng zì.

The character 浜 often appears in the old place names of Shanghai.

Tips

culture

浜 is a distinctly Wu-region word — the lower Yangtze delta around Shanghai, Suzhou, and Ningbo is laced with these small creeks, and dozens of Shanghai neighborhood names end in 浜 (e.g. 肇嘉浜, 洋泾浜). 洋泾浜英语 (Yángjīngbāng Yīngyǔ, 'Yangjingbang English') even gave the world the term 'pidgin English'.

register

In Japanese 浜 (hama) means 'beach' and is read totally differently — don't confuse the two when reading Japanese names like 横浜 (Yokohama).