time (repeated action); all over
HSK level
遍 is written with 12 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
遍 (biàn) is primarily a verbal measure word that counts how many times an action is carried out from beginning to end.
It differs sharply from the English word 'time': while 次 (cì) also means 'time,' 遍 specifically stresses a complete run-through of the whole thing — reading a book cover to cover, playing a song start to finish, explaining something all the way again. Say 看一遍 and you mean reading the entire text once through, not just glancing at it once.
遍 can also work as an adverb or bound morpheme meaning 'all over' or 'everywhere,' as in 遍地 (all over the ground) or 走遍 (to travel all over). English has no single word that captures the 'complete cycle' sense, so learners often over-use 次 where 遍 is more precise.
Note: Neutral and used in both speech and writing. As an adverb meaning 'all over,' it appears in slightly more literary set phrases like 遍地都是.
这本书我看了三遍。
Zhè běn shū wǒ kàn le sān biàn.
I've read this book three times through.
neutral
请你再说一遍，好吗？
Qǐng nǐ zài shuō yī biàn, hǎo ma?
Could you say it one more time, please?
spoken, polite
他走遍了中国的每个省。
Tā zǒubiàn le Zhōngguó de měi ge shěng.
He has traveled all over every province of China.
written
老师把课文念了一遍。
Lǎoshī bǎ kèwén niàn le yī biàn.
The teacher read the text through once.
neutral
便 looks almost identical but means 'convenient' or 'then'; it is not a measure word. 遍 has the 辶 walking radical on the left; 便 has the 亻 person radical.
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