How to Write 阪 (bǎn) — Meaning “Slope or hillside.”

Imagine a hill (阝) that is so steep you have to "reverse" (反) your direction to climb it — that hill is a slope. You can also think of "阪" as "hill + reverse" to remember it means a sloping side of a hill.

The left radical 阝 should be written narrow and tall, using a hook stroke then a vertical line. The right side 反 has four strokes: horizontal, left-falling (撇), horizontal, then right-falling (捺). A common mistake is making the left radical too wide, which ruins the balance.

阪 has the radical 阝 on the left and 反 on the right. 邓 (dèng) has 又 (yòu) on the left and 阝 on the right. 邗 (hán) has 干 (gān) on the left and 阝 on the right. So the position of the hill radical and the other component are different for each character.

阪 is rarely used alone in modern Chinese except in proper nouns, most famously in the name of the Japanese city Osaka (大阪). It originally meant "slope" or "hillside," so it appears in some historical place names. In Chinese culture, it is most often encountered when referring to Osaka or Japanese surnames like 阪田 (Sakata).

Common words containing 阪 include: 大阪 (dà bǎn) — Osaka; 阪田 (bǎn tián) — Sakata (a surname or place name).; 阪 (bǎn) — Slope or hillside..