帮帮 (bāng bāng) — to help a bit, to give a hand (polite request)

Definition

Reduplicated form of 帮, used in polite requests ('please give me a hand') or urgent calls for help. 帮 alone is neutral and works in any clause; the reduplication softens or enlivens the request.

verb

to help a bitto give a hand (polite request)

Examples

帮帮？
Nǐ néng bāng bāng wǒ ma?
Can you give me a hand?
帮帮。
Qǐng bāng bāng tā bǎ xiāng zi bān shàng qù.
Please help him carry the box up.
帮帮，。
Dà jiā kuài lái bāng bāng, wǒ yí gè rén bān bú dòng.
Everyone come and help — I can't move it alone.

Origin

Reduplicated word

构词法gòucífǎ

重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

帮bānghelp

The repeated 'help' makes the action light and brief, a polite request to help a bit.

Characters in this word

Most 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 幫; 帮 is its simplified writing.

封帛幫

Meaning part形符xíngfú

帛帛bósilk

Sound part声符shēngfú

封

封fēng幫bāng

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 帮's traditional form 幫, 帛 (silk) gives the meaning and 封 gives the sound; it originally named the upper part of a shoe.

Open 帮 →