盘 (pán): plate; dish; tray

Meanings

1 plate; dish; tray
2 measure word for servings of food or games

Characters

盘

pán

plate; dish; tray; to coil

Examples

桌子上有一盘菜。

Zhuōzi shàng yǒu yì pán cài.

There is a plate of food on the table.

我们下一盘棋吧。

Wǒmen xià yì pán qí ba.

Let's play a game of chess.

请再来一盘饺子。

Qǐng zài lái yì pán jiǎozi.

Another plate of dumplings, please.

Tips

usage

盘 doubles as a measure word: 一盘菜 (a plate/dish of food), 一盘棋 (a game of chess), 一盘录像带 (a videotape). The measure word usage comes from things arranged on or wound around a flat surface.

culture

算盘 (suànpán, abacus) literally means 'counting tray.' The Chinese abacus was used for centuries and is still taught to children as a mental math technique (珠心算, zhū xīn suàn).

Components

radical

皿 mǐn

vessel; dish

Bottom vessel radical — the indexing semantic. Pictures a wide footed bowl seen from the side, two vertical legs and a flat horizontal base. Marks 盘 as a shallow open dish or tray. Other vessel-radical words: 盆 (basin), 盖 (lid), 盐 (salt-tray → salt), 盗 (drink-from-vessel → steal).

phonetic

舟 zhōu

boat

Top 舟 — pictures a boat seen from the side, with planks and a ridge. In 盘 it stands in for the original phonetic 般 (bān, sort/kind), which the simplified form has shortened to just its left half 舟. Supplies the sound bān → pán, a regular Mandarin shift.