扁 (biǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “flat”. It is written from 户 (door; household) and 册 (bamboo slips bound together; a volume, a booklet), one enclosing the other, and takes 9 strokes. It has a second reading, piān, which turns up in 扁舟 — here the two readings are two separate things to learn, not one card with two answers.
Build the character for “flat”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
户 + 册
Enclosing structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分，经 hanzi-writer-data 笔画数据核验（户 0-3 共4画 + 册 4-8 共5画 = 9画）；构件归属见《说文解字》「扁：署也。从戶冊」
Memory aid
Bamboo slips (册) pressed flat against a door (户) — a thin, flat plaque. Think of 扁 as "flat".
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 扁平biǎn píngflat扁 = biǎn
- 压扁yā biǎnto squash flat扁 = biǎn
Go deeper
All readings
flat
flat; thin and wide
物体宽而薄、不鼓起的样子。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 扁平biǎn píngflat扁 = biǎn
- 压扁yā biǎnto squash flat扁 = biǎn
small (boat)
small; tiny (as in a small boat)
小，多用于「扁舟」（小船）。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 扁舟piān zhōusmall boat; skiff扁 = piān
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 扁 mean?
扁 (biǎn) means flat; thin and wide.
How do you pronounce 扁?
Its main reading is biǎn. It also has a second reading, piān, which only shows up in certain words such as 扁舟 — so the word tells you the reading, not the character on its own.
Why is 扁 sometimes pronounced piān?
Because it is a multi-reading character: each reading carries a different sense, and the word decides which one applies. In 扁舟 it is read piān.
What parts is 扁 made of?
户 (door; household) and 册 (bamboo slips bound together; a volume, a booklet), one enclosing the other. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分，经 hanzi-writer-data 笔画数据核验（户 0-3 共4画 + 册 4-8 共5画 = 9画）；构件归属见《说文解字》「扁：署也。从戶冊」. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 扁 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 扁?
户. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 扁?
Common ones are 扁平 and 压扁. The reading of 扁 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.