奔
bēnbèn HSK6

run fast

← Back to history
approved by Prismcool · Feb 18, 2026, 07:02 AM · Reviewed by Prismcool on Feb 18, 2026, 07:02 AM

Source

Changed fields: customSources

Depicts a running person (夭) with more than one 止 (foot) components to indicate faster movement. Similar in origin to 走.

Components

夭
夭 Iconic component
yāo, wò, wāi die young
犇
犇 SoundIconic component
bēn run fast

Depicted three feet.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 犇 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpwonpˤur run (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“奔，走也。从夭，賁省聲。與走同意，俱从夭。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.768
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)