盆
pén · HSK 5
flower pot
🪴 pén sounds like 'pan' — a basin or flower pot is a wide shallow pan
The Mandarin pén rhymes with English 'pan', and a 盆 is essentially a pan-shaped vessel: a basin, washbowl, or flower pot. As a volume unit it measured roughly 128 liters of grain.
盆 — 分 (fēn, phonetic) + 皿 (mǐn, dish/vessel)
盆 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The bottom 皿 depicts an open vessel or dish and gives the meaning 'basin/bowl,' while the top 分 supplies the sound 'fēn,' which shifted to 'pén.' It originally referred to a wide, shallow earthenware basin used for washing or holding food.