biàn
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 benzyl (organic chemistry group)

Examples

Běn shì yìzhǒng wúsè ér jùdú de huàxuépǐn.
Benzene is a colorless and highly toxic chemical.

Tips

history
Not used on its own in everyday Chinese; a coined chemistry character that appears almost only in 苄基 (benzyl) and related compound names. It uses the grass radical over phonetic .
register
Technical only; seen in chemical nomenclature, not in general writing or speech.

Components

radical
cǎo
grass; plant
The grass radical on top, the canopy form of . Chemistry naming reuses plant-family graphs for organic groups, the same pattern as and .
phonetic
biàn
surname Bian; phonetic
Below the grass radical it carries the sound biàn exactly, chosen to abbreviate the foreign term "benzyl". It contributes pronunciation only.

Stroke Order

biàn