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本

běn root; origin

5 strokes

本 (běn) is a Chinese character meaning “root of a plant”. It is written from 木 (tree; wood) and 一 (one), and takes 5 strokes.

Build the character for “root; origin”

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Structure

木 + 一

Overlapping structure

  • 木 tree; wood · mù meaning
  • 一 one · yī meaning

Structure from: 说文解字：本，木下曰本。从木，一在其下。

Memory aid

A tree (木) with one short line (一) laid across the foot of its trunk. The line is a pointer: look down here, at the root. That is 本 — the root, the origin, the base of things.

This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.

Stroke order

5 strokes

In real words

  • 书本shū běnbook; books本 = běnHSK 1
  • 本子běn zinotebook; exercise book本 = běnHSK 1
  • 版本bǎn běnedition; version本 = běnspoken asbán běn
  • 副本fù běncopy; duplicate (of a document)本 = běn
  • 基本jī běnbasic; fundamental; basically本 = běn
  • 本埠běn bùthis town; this city (local)本 = běn
  • 根本gēn běnfundamental; basic; (not) at all本 = běn
  • 课本kè běntextbook本 = běn
Go deeper

All readings

běn main reading

root; origin

root of a plant; origin, basis, foundation; this, current; a bound volume, notebook

草木的根；事物的根源、基础。也指本子、册子，并作书册的量词。 — studyhanzi 编写

Words with this reading

  • 书本shū běnbook; books本 = běnHSK 1
  • 本子běn zinotebook; exercise book本 = běnHSK 1
  • 版本bǎn běnedition; version本 = běnspoken asbán běn
  • 副本fù běncopy; duplicate (of a document)本 = běn
  • 基本jī běnbasic; fundamental; basically本 = běn
  • 本埠běn bùthis town; this city (local)本 = běn
  • 根本gēn běnfundamental; basic; (not) at all本 = běn
  • 课本kè běntextbook本 = běn

Other characters with these parts

木 → 休呆困宋床未末术

一 → 一七丁丈三万下与

Easy to confuse with

木末未

Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions

Questions people ask about this character

What does 本 mean?

本 (běn) means root of a plant; origin, basis, foundation; this, current; a bound volume, notebook.

How do you pronounce 本?

It is pronounced běn.

What parts is 本 made of?

木 (tree; wood) and 一 (one). The recorded source is: 说文解字：本，木下曰本。从木，一在其下。. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.

How many strokes does 本 have?

5. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.

What is the radical of 本?

木. 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 本?

Common ones are 书本 and 本子. The reading of 本 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.