minute; point; cent; to divide
HSK level
分 is written with 4 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
分 (fēn) is a high-frequency unit word with three core senses.
(1) Minutes — 三点十分 ('3:10'), 五分钟 ('five minutes'). (2) Points / score — 考了九十分 ('scored 90 points'). (3) Currency — the smallest unit of Chinese money, 100 分 = 1 块 (yuán); in daily life 分 is rarely paid in cash anymore but still appears in prices.
It also serves as a unit of weight and length in old measures, and as a fraction (三分之一 sān fēn zhī yī, 'one-third'). Beyond units, 分 is the verb 'to divide, split, separate' — 分东西 ('divide things'), 分手 ('break up'), 分开 ('split apart'). The shared idea is partition: dividing time, money, scores, or relationships into pieces.
Note: 分 is also a verb meaning 'to divide / split' (分东西 'divide things up,' 分手 'break up'). The HSK 3 focus is the measure word / unit usage.
现在是七点二十分。
Xiànzài shì qī diǎn èrshí fēn.
It's 7:20 right now.
neutral
请等我五分钟。
Qǐng děng wǒ wǔ fēnzhōng.
Please wait five minutes for me.
polite
他这次考试考了九十五分。
Tā zhè cì kǎoshì kǎo le jiǔshíwǔ fēn.
He scored 95 on this exam.
neutral
我们把蛋糕分成八块。
Wǒmen bǎ dàngāo fēn chéng bā kuài.
Let's divide the cake into eight pieces.
spoken
他们去年分手了。
Tāmen qùnián fēnshǒu le.
They broke up last year.
spoken
Acquire it by listening
Fluentide turns real news into Chinese listening at your exact level, so words like 分 show up again and again in natural sentences — with pinyin and translation every time. No flashcards. Free to start.
