弁

Translingual

Japanese	弁 弁 弁
Simplified	辩 辨 瓣
Traditional	辯 辨 瓣

Han character

弁 (Kangxi radical 55, 廾+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 戈廿 (IT) or 難戈廿 (XIT), four-corner 2344₀, composition ⿱厶廾)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 353, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 9588
• Dae Jaweon: page 668, character 11
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 514, character 7
• Unihan data for U+5F01

---

Chinese

simp. and trad.		弁

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (弁) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
鴘	*pronʔ, *pʰronʔ
弁	*brons
拚	*pʰaːn, *brons, *pʰaːn, *puns
閞	*brons, *bons
昪	*brons
匥	*brons
笲	*brons, *bon, *bonʔ
軬	*bonʔ
畚	*puːnʔ

Ideogram (指事) : 厶 + 廾: hands (廾) placing a hat (厶) on someone’s head.

Etymology 1

“cap; to wear a cap; low-ranking military officer; to place before or above”

Possibly related to 冕 (OC *mronʔ, “crown”) (Wang, 1982).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): biàn (bian⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄧㄢˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bin⁶

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: biàn
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄧㄢˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: biàn
    • Wade–Giles: pien⁴
    • Yale: byàn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: biann
    • Palladius: бянь (bjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pi̯ɛn⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: bin⁶
    • Yale: bihn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bin⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: bin⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /piːn²²/

---

• Middle Chinese: bjenH

Rime
Character	弁
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	並 (3)
Final (韻)	仙 (79)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	皮變切
Baxter	bjenH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/bˠiᴇnH/
Pan Wuyun	/bᵚiɛnH/
Shao Rongfen	/biænH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/bianH/
Li Rong	/bjɛnH/
Wang Li	/bĭɛnH/
Bernard Karlgren	/bʱi̯ɛnH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	biàn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	bin6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*C.[b]ro[n]-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*brons/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	弁
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	biàn
Middle Chinese	‹ bjenH ›
Old Chinese	/*C.[b]ro[n]-s/
English	cap
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	弁
Reading #	1/1
No.	757
Phonetic component	弁
Rime group	元
Rime subdivision	3
Corresponding MC rime	卞
Old Chinese	/*brons/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 弁

1. conical cap worn during the Zhou dynasty
2. ^† (of a man) to wear a cap (usually to indicate adulthood)

   • 未幾見兮，突而弁兮。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     未几见兮，突而弁兮。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Wèi jǐ jiàn xī, tū ér biàn xī. [Pinyin]

     When you see him after not a long time, Lo! he is wearing the cap!

3. (historical) low-ranking military officer
4. to place before or above
5. ^† quick; rushed
6. ^† to panic; to shudder
7. ^† (deprecated template usage) Alternative form of 卞 (biàn, “to wrestle with bare hands”).
8. ^† (deprecated template usage) Alternative form of 卞 (Biàn, “a county in Shandong”).
9. a surname

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): pán (pan²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄆㄢˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): pun⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: pán
    • Zhuyin: ㄆㄢˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: pán
    • Wade–Giles: pʻan²
    • Yale: pán
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: parn
    • Palladius: пань (panʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pʰän³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: pun⁴
    • Yale: pùhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: pun⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: pun⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pʰuːn²¹/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 弁

1. ^† happy

Etymology 3

For pronunciation and definitions of 弁 – see 辯 (“to debate; to argue; to discuss”). (This character is the second-round simplified form of 辯).

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Etymology 4

For pronunciation and definitions of 弁 – see 辨 (“to distinguish; to discriminate; to prepare; to equip; etc.”). (This character is the second-round simplified form of 辨).

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Etymology 5

For pronunciation and definitions of 弁 – see 辮 (“braid; plait; braid-like object”). (This character is the second-round simplified form of 辮).

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

---

Japanese

Shinjitai	弁
Kyūjitai	辨

Shinjitai	弁
Kyūjitai	瓣

Shinjitai	弁
Kyūjitai	辯

Kanji

弁

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 辨,瓣,辯)

Readings

• Go-on: べん (ben, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: はん (han); へん (hen)
• Kun: かんむり (kanmuri, 弁); わきまえる (wakimaeru, 弁える); わける (wakeru, 弁ける)

Compounds

• 関西弁 (kansaiben, “Kansai dialect”).
• 花弁 (kaben, “petal”).

Usage notes

In Japan, this character is shinjitai of 3 characters, 辨, 瓣, 辯. Furthermore, in modern usage, this character is used to replace 辮 and 辦.

Suffix

1. dialect

See also

• Category:Regional Japanese
• 方言(ほうげん) (hōgen, “dialect”)

Noun

Etymology 1

1. discrimination
2. valve

Etymology 2

1. petal

---

Korean

Hanja

弁 • (byeon, ban) (hangeul 변, 반, revised byeon, ban, McCune–Reischauer pyŏn, pan, Yale pyen, pan)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

---

Vietnamese

Han character

(deprecated template usage) 弁 (biền, biện)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.