扮演
bànyǎn · HSK 5
play part of
🎭 扮演 = 扮 (dress up) + 演 (perform) → play a role
扮 means to dress up or disguise; 演 means to perform or act. Together they describe taking on and performing a role, as an actor plays a character on stage.
扮 — hand radical 扌 + 分 (fēn, divide)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 signals an action done with the hands, while 分 (fēn) supplies the sound, shifted to bàn. The original sense was to dress up or disguise—using one's hands to alter appearance—extending to 'play the role of' as in 扮演.
演 — water 氵 + 寅 (yín, phonetic)
演 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the water radical 氵 gives the meaning, originally referring to water flowing far and spreading out, while 寅 supplies the sound. From 'water extending' it broadened to 'develop, elaborate, perform,' as in unfolding a story or acting out a play.