Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Tools & Weapons

版: printing block, printing plate

Also: edition, impression, label

JLPT N28 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

片 carries the meaning · 反 gives the sound

8 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

One reading, and the words that use it

ハンhan · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 版はんplate, printing, edition
  • 版画はんがart print
  • 版元はんもとpublisher
  • 版権はんけんcopyright
  • 重版じゅうはんadditional printing
  • 凸版とっぱんletterpress, relief printing
  • 活版かっぱんprinting, typography
  • 出版社しゅっぱんしゃpublisher
  • 初版本しょはんぼんfirst edition
  • 決定版けっていばんdefinitive edition
  • 改訂版かいていばんrevised edition
  • 出版するしゅっぱんするpublish

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)片 (meaning) + 反 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 版 (rev. 93443774), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Split wood (片) + reverse/return (反). It originally referred to a wooden "printing block" carved to "return" or reproduce a text—the heart of publishing.”
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
反

Also built on anti- (反)

版 takes the 反 family's reading, ハン (han).

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
版 printing block · 片
vs板 plank · 木
版 has 片 where 板 has 木.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · bǎn

Same form: 版 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
版 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
版 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin bǎn most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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