番 (fān): classifier for actions or occur…

Meanings

1 classifier for actions or occurrences (times, bouts)
2 foreign; from abroad (in compounds)
3 to double; -fold (in 翻番)

Characters

番

fān

a time; a turn; foreign

Examples

经过一番努力，他终于成功了。

Jīngguò yīfān nǔlì, tā zhōngyú chénggōng le.

After a great deal of effort, he finally succeeded.

让我好好考虑一番。

Ràngwǒ hǎohāo kǎolǜ yīfān.

Let me give it careful thought.

老师的一番话让我很感动。

Lǎoshī de yīfān huà ràngwǒ hěn gǎndòng.

The teacher's words moved me deeply.

产量翻了一番。

Chǎnliàng fān le yīfān.

Production has doubled.

Tips

usage

一番 is used before abstract nouns to mean 'a bout/spell of': 一番努力 (a great effort), 一番话 (a set of words/remarks), 一番心意 (a gesture of goodwill). 翻一番 specifically means 'to double.'

usage

As a prefix meaning 'foreign': 番茄 (tomato, literally 'foreign eggplant'), 番薯 (sweet potato, literally 'foreign yam'). These words reflect when these crops came to China from abroad.

register

Read fān for the classifier and 'foreign' senses. As a surname and in the place name 番禺 (Panyu, a district of Guangzhou) it is read Pān instead.

Components

radical

田 tián

field; farmland

Bottom field radical — the indexing radical. The whole pictogram: animal paw-prints across a cultivated field. From the image of one round of prints came the 'a time / round' classifier; from 'tracks of foreign beasts' came the 'foreign' meaning preserved in 番茄 (tomato) and 番薯 (sweet potato).

semantic

釆 biàn

animal tracks (pictograph)

Top 釆 — a pictograph of an animal paw print (visually distinct from 采 'to pick' by the small bottom dot, and unrelated to 米 'rice'). Originally 番 depicted footprints in a field, hence the 'turn / time / round' classifier and the 'change' senses (番茄 was 'foreign tomato' = trail of foreign tracks).