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音节&声符 Syllables(p-) & 12 Phonetic Components

⬅️ 音节 Syllables


There are 15,831 syllables in English, while HSK Chinese characters have a total of 1110 syllables including tones. A Chinese syllable is usually composed of an initial, a final, and a tone.

I will introduce syllables starting with the initial "p", and 12 phonetic components. The phonetic component（声符） is also called 声旁. Most of these components are characters themselves.

When a character is created, its pronunciation may be the same as or similar to its phonetic component. Then, it undergoes many changes over thousands of years. For example: 番 is a polyphonic character. It has 2 pronunciations fān/pān. It used to have a third pronunciation - "pó" (a surname). This pronunciation was removed from the dictionary.

Characters containing phonetic components can also become phonetic components of other characters. We can call them the second level components （崩, 波, etc.). For example: 朋➡️崩➡️蹦, 皮➡️波➡️婆.

  1. 番茄 【fānqié】 tomato
  2. 直播 【zhíbō】 direct broadcast; live telecast
  3. 翻译 【fānyì】 translate
  4. 潘 【pān】 a surname
  5. 旁边 【pángbiān】 by the side of; next to
  6. 英镑 【yīngbàng】 pound; pound sterling
  7. 磅 【bàng】 pound(lb)
  8. 诽谤 【fěibàng】 slander; calumniate
  9. 傍晚 【bàngwǎn】 at nightfall; at dusk
  10. 肩膀 【jiānbǎng】 shoulder
  11. 榜样 【bǎngyàng】 example; model
  12. 朋友 【péngyou】 friend
  13. 绷带 【bēngdài】 bandage
  14. 鹏程万里 【péngchéngwànlǐ】 have a bright future; brilliant prospects
  15. 大棚 【dàpéng】 Greenhouse
  16. 崩溃 【bēngkuì】 collapse; breakdown
  17. 蹦 【bèng】 hop; jump
  18. 皮肤 【pífū】 skin
  19. 被动 【bèidòng】 passive; passivity
  20. 彼此 【bǐcǐ】 each other; both parties
  21. 波动 【bōdòng】 undulate; fluctuate
  22. 老婆 【lǎopo】 wife
  23. 玻璃 【bōli】 glass
  24. 疲劳 【píláo】 tired; fatigued
  25. 披露 【pīlù】 to reveal; to publish
  26. 破坏 【pòhuài】 damage; destroy
  27. 山坡 【shānpō】 hillside; mountain slope
  28. 颇 【pō】 quite; rather
  29. 照片 【zhàopiàn】 photo; photograph
  30. 出版 【chūbǎn】 publish; come off the press
  31. 车牌 【chēpái】 license plate
  32. 邮票 【yóupiào】 postage stamp; album
  33. 飘 【piāo】 float (in the air); flutter
  34. 漂亮 【piàoliang】 beautiful; good-looking
  35. 天平 【tiānpíng】 balance; scales
  36. 秤 【chēng】 to weigh; 【chèng】scales
  37. 抨击 【pēngjī】 attack (in speech or writing); assail
  38. 苹果 【píngguǒ】 apple
  39. 批评 【pīpíng】 criticize; criticism
  40. 萍水相逢 【píngshuǐxiāngféng】 (of strangers) meet by chance; a chance acquaintance
  41. 草坪 【cǎopíng】 lawn
  42. 开辟 【kāipì】 open up; develop
  43. 回避 【huíbì】 avoid (meeting sb.); debarb
  44. 墙壁 【qiángbì】 wall
  45. 手臂 【shǒubì】 arm
  46. 譬如 【pìrú】 for example; for instance
  47. 劈 【pī】 chop; split
  48. 偏僻 【piānpì】 remote; out-of-the-way
  49. 扁 【biǎn】 flat
  50. 篇幅 【piānfú】 the length of an article; space
  51. 普遍 【pǔbiàn】 general; universal
  52. 编号 【biānhào】 number; serial number
  53. 欺骗 【qīpiàn】 fraud; deceive
  54. 偏差 【piānchā】 deviation; bias
  55. 普通人 【pǔtōngrén】 ordinary people; common man
  56. 谱 【pǔ】 music score; manual; guide

You may have noticed that there is no homophone words in today's Vocabulary List. Although there are lots of homophone characters in Chinese, most compound words have their own distinct pronunciations.

When learning homophone characters, we should also pay attention to semantic components and related compound words to avoid misunderstandings.

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