贩 (fàn) — to buy and resell; to peddle
Definition
贩 (fàn) means 'to buy and resell, to peddle' — usually goods, often with a sense of small-scale or illicit trade. Compare with 卖 ('to sell' in general) and 售 ('to sell', more formal); 贩 emphasizes buying in order to resell.
verb
to buy and resellto peddle
Easily confused
- 阪bǎnlook-alikeslope; hillside (literary or in place names)
- 犯fànsound-aliketo commit (a crime, offense, or mistake)
- 叛pànlook-aliketo betray; to rebel (bound form)
- 范fànsound-alikesurname Fan
- 扳bānlook-aliketo pull (with force); to turn (a switch, handle, etc.)
- 梵fànsound-alike(bound form) Sanskrit; relating to the Sanskrit language or script
Examples
- 贩。Tā zài jí shì shàng fàn shuǐ guǒ.He peddles fruit at the market.
- 贩。Zhè jiā diàn fàn de huò wù dōu shì cóng guó wài yùn lái de.The goods sold by this shop are all shipped from abroad.
- 贩，。Tā yǐ qián fàn guò jiǎ huò, hòu lái bèi zhuā le.He used to peddle counterfeit goods, and later got caught.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
This origin belongs to the traditional form 販; 贩 is its simplified writing.
Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèicowry
The traditional form 販 combines 貝, a cowry shell, with 反 as a sound part; the simplified 贩 is a shorthand and its right side is not a historical component.
Appears in
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