What does 帮 mean in Chinese?

帮 is a Chinese character with the radical 巾.

How do you write 帮?

帮 is written with 9 strokes, starting from the 巾 (turban) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 帮?

The radical of 帮 is 巾 (turban, Kangxi radical #50). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 常, 师, 市, 巾.

How many strokes does 帮 have?

The Chinese character 帮 has 9 strokes.

What HSK level is 帮?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 帮 is a character to recognise at HSK 2.

帮: Chinese Character Details

帮

HSK 2 character 9 strokes Radical: 巾 (turban)

Quick Answer

帮 is a Chinese character with 9 strokes, radical 巾 (turban), HSK 2 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 帮 →Animated stroke-order for 帮 →

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

帮 has no oracle-bone attestation. It is a relatively late phono-semantic compound combining 邦 (bāng, 'state, territory') as the phonetic element over 巾 (jīn, 'cloth') as the semantic element. The original sense related to the cloth sides or edges of a shoe.

Form evolution

Because the character postdates the oracle-bone period, its earliest clear forms appear in small seal script with 邦 sitting above 巾. Clerical and regular script regularised the strokes, and the modern simplified form 帮 retains this top-bottom structure. The traditional form 幫 shows 封 over 帛 instead, a more elaborate phonetic-semantic stacking that simplification collapsed.

How the meaning evolved

The earliest recorded meaning was the lateral part of a shoe, the piece of cloth or leather forming the upper. From there it extended to any side panel or grouped part, then to a band or gang of people associated together, and from that social sense to the modern verbal meaning 'to help, to assist'. The shift from 'side piece' to 'help' went through 'stand at someone's side'.

Cultural note

The older 'gang, faction' sense survives clearly in 帮派 (gang, faction) and 黑帮 (organised crime), which confuses learners who only know 帮 as 'help'. The shoe-upper sense also survives literally in 鞋帮.