番

fān

HSK 6

番 — fān

1. (bound form) foreign; non-Chinese; barbarian (archaic/derogatory)

   边境贸易中，常有番商前来交易。 biānjìngmàoyì zhōng chángyǒu fān shāng qiánlái jiāoyì — In border trade, foreign merchants often came to do business.

2. classifier for processes or actions that take time/effort (e.g. 一番努力)

   你再用一番心思就能解决这个问题。 nǐ zài yòng yīfān xīnsī jiù néng jiějué zhège wèntí — If you put in a bit more effort, you can solve this problem.

3. classifier meaning 'a kind' or 'a sort' (e.g. 各有一番)

   他们各有一番见解。 tāmen gè yǒu yīfān jiànjiě — They each have their own kind of opinion.

4. classifier used after the verb 翻 to indicate how many times a quantity doubles (as in 翻一番 'to double')

   这笔投资三年后可能会翻一番。 zhèbǐ tóuzī sānnián hòu kěnéng huì fānyīfān — This investment might double in three years.

番 — pān

1. surname Pan

   番先生今天不在办公室。 fān xiānshēng jīntiān bùzài bàngōngshì — Mr. Pan is not in the office today.