Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced ban
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced ban, including 办 bàn, 半 bàn, 般 bān, 版 bǎn, 班 bān. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
ban joins the initial b to the final an in one motion — say it as a single Mandarin beat with the tone over it, not as English letters in a row.
Initial b
Start the syllable on the initial b, then run straight into the final an — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final an
Keep an short and open; do not turn it into ang.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (办 bàn, 半 bàn, 般 bān, 版 bǎn, 班 bān) and lock in their tones. 11 common characters share the sound ban, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
ban turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 般, 班, 搬… (5 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 版, 板 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 办, 半, 伴… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing ban inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
11 common characters in this group.