分
minute; point; cent; to divide
fēn
What does 分 mean?
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.
Character breakdown
to divide; minute; point; fraction
Memory hook: 八 ('eight,' two strokes going apart) on top of 刀 ('knife') — a knife splitting things into parts. 分 is what you get after you divide.
Example sentences
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
Common phrases with 分
Hear it in real Fluentide episodes
分 appears in 1 podcast episode at natural native speed, with full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Synonyms
Don't confuse 分 with
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire by listening
Hear 分 in real Chinese, not in a flashcard.
Fluentide picks the next news episode at your level, so this word shows up again and again in real sentences. Pinyin, translation, and the episode where you heard it — every time. Free to start, no card.