piān

piece of writing, bamboo slip

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
⺮ meaning component

  Meaning component

zhú

  

bamboo

扁 sound component

  Sound component

biǎnpiān

  

flat

Evolution

篇 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
篇 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
篇 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
篇 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
篇 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

piān

chapter, section, essay, article; sheet; piece of writing; bound set of bamboo slips used for record keeping (old); classifier for written items: chapter, article

Most common words with 篇
Freq.
Word
Meaning

sheet

篇章

writing

篇幅

length (of a piece of writing)

长篇

lengthy (report or speech)

千篇一律

once you've seen one, you've seen them all