Talk:番

Mandarin readings

Can it be added in which contexts all the Mandarin readings are used? 24.29.238.60 03:06, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Can it be added in which contexts all the Mandarin readings are used? 71.66.97.228 01:22, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

Done. 204.11.189.94 12:23, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

"Foreign"

How did a character meaning "a time" come to also mean "foreign"? 71.66.97.228 23:53, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

The original meaning of 番 is "one time (of repeated processes)" which is from a root meaning "to turn, to rotate", thus cognate with 反 ("opposite"), 返 ("to return, to go back"), 翻 ("to turn over"). "Foreign" is probably from a non-Chinese tribe name, cf. 吐蕃, 蕃 ("Tibet"), which is ultimately borrowed from Tibetan (written: བོད, bod), the Tibetan name for the Tibetans themselves. (labiodental fricatives were a later development in Chinese, so this transcription is not surprising.) 60.240.101.246 09:14, 16 October 2011 (UTC)

Additional definition?

Can this also mean "kind" or "type" in Chinese? 204.11.189.94 12:04, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Yes; added. 204.11.189.94 12:22, 4 May 2016 (UTC)