翻翻 (fān fān) — to flip through; to browse (by flipping pages) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

翻翻 (fān fan) is the casual reduplicated form of 翻, used when you flip or leaf through something quickly — a book, dictionary, or magazine — without reading carefully.

bound form

to flip throughto browse (by flipping pages)

Examples

翻翻，。
Wǒ suí biàn fān fān zhè běn shū, méi zǐ xì kàn.
I just flipped through this book casually, didn't read it carefully.
翻翻，。
Tā fān fān kǒu dài, fā xiàn qián bāo bú jiàn le.
He felt around in his pocket and found his wallet was missing.
翻翻，。
Nǐ fān fān cí diǎn, chá yí xià zhè ge cí de yì si.
Flip through the dictionary and look up the meaning of this word.

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.

翻 appears twice to suggest a light, casual action of flipping.

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.

番羽翻

Meaning part形符xíngfú

羽羽yǔwings

Sound part声符shēngfú

番

番fān翻fān

Same sound today

翻 pairs 羽 (wings) with 番, which gives the sound. The shape shows something fluttering.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

番羽翻

Meaning part形符xíngfú

羽羽yǔwings

Sound part声符shēngfú

番

番fān翻fān

Same sound today

翻 pairs 羽 (wings) with 番, which gives the sound. The shape shows something fluttering.

Appears in

Reading & Writing

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