How to Write 扳 (bān) — Meaning “to pull; to turn; to wrench”

Imagine you use your hand (扌) to turn a screw in the opposite direction (反) using a wrench. The shape of 反 looks like a person pushing or turning something backwards, which matches the action of pulling or wrenching.

The right part 反 has four strokes: a short left-falling stroke (丿), a vertical hook (⺄), and two longer strokes. A common mistake is to write the left side 扌 too wide; keep it narrow so the right side has space. Also, ensure the right side's hook (乛) curves slightly before going up, not straight down.

㧜 is a rare or obsolete character with no standard meaning in modern Chinese, so you will almost never see it. 扑 (pū) means "to rush at" or "to pat" and uses the same hand radical but has a different right side (卜). In contrast, 扳 specifically means pulling, turning, or wrenching with force, like using a tool.

You often see 扳 in mechanical or sports contexts, such as 扳手 (wrench) for turning nuts, or 扳回一局 (to pull back a game) in competitions to describe recovering a losing score. It carries a sense of applying force to change a position or outcome, making it useful for both physical and figurative situations.

Common words containing 扳 include: 扳手 (bān shǒu) — wrench; spanner; 扳回 (bān huí) — to pull back; to retrieve (a situation or score); 扳动 (bān dòng) — to pull (a lever or trigger); to move.