HSK 4 · Adjectives

普遍 pǔbiàn “universal” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 普遍 means

  1. universal
  2. general
  3. widespread
  4. common

How to say 普遍

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale普pǔ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale遍biàn4th tone, falling

普遍 in a sentence

  1. 夫妻分担家务的情况愈来愈普遍。

    Fūqī fēndān jiāwù de qíngkuàng yùláiyù pǔbiàn.

    Couples sharing the housework is becoming more and more common.

    Sentence #1450197 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 中国大陆的沿海城市普遍比内陆城市发达。

    Zhōngguó dàlù de yánhǎi chéngshì pǔbiàn bǐ nèilù chéngshì fādá.

    Coastal cities in mainland China are generally more developed than inland ones.

    Sentence #1746077 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 人们普遍认为悬挂式滑翔运动是危险的。

    Rénmen pǔbiàn rènwéi xuánguàshì huáxiáng yùndòng shì wēixiǎn de.

    People generally think hang-gliding is dangerous.

    Sentence #1408104 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 普遍 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 普 (pǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
普pǔgeneral
  • 並to combine
  • 日sun · rì
The character 遍 (biàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
遍biàneverywhere
  • 扁flat · biǎnSound part
  • 辶walking form of 辵 · chuòMeaning part

辶 hints at the meaning (walking); 扁 (biǎn) hints at the sound. Compare it with biàn.

How to write 普遍

普 12 strokes · 遍 12 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

普遍 (pǔbiàn) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 普遍 (pǔbiàn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 普遍

Words with 普

普通话pǔtōnghuà · Mandarin普及pǔjí · to popularise

Words with 遍

遍biàn · measure word for times (start to finish)遍布biànbù · to be found everywhere

More words: Adjectives

满mǎn · to fill美丽měilì · beautiful耐心nàixīn · to be patient暖和nuǎnhuo · warm轻松qīngsōng · relaxed穷qióng · poor热闹rènao · bustling with noise and excitement深shēn · deep

FAQs

普遍 (pǔbiàn) means “universal” or “general”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it pǔbiàn: pǔ with a 3rd tone, then biàn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 普遍 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type pubian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 普遍 from the suggestions. Typing pubian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
普遍 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.