ปัน

Explanation

The central idea of ปัน is taking a portion of a whole and directing it to another person or purpose. It can be used with tangible things such as food as well as abstract things such as time, knowledge, profits, and attention. Although ปัน can stand alone, แบ่งปัน is especially common for “share.” In business, ปันผล refers to distributing profits as dividends, while ปันส่วน is used for rationing or allocating limited supplies.

Usage

It is used when sharing food or possessions, devoting time or attention to someone, and sharing knowledge. It also appears in business when discussing dividends and in administrative or relief contexts when resources are allocated.

Caution

Do not confuse ปัน with ปั่น, which can mean “spin,” “pedal,” or “blend.” Also, แบ่งปัน is often more natural than ปัน alone when simply saying “share” in everyday language.

1 share synonyms

• แจก

  cɛ̀ɛk distribute

  แจก means to hand things out to a number of people. ปัน suggests dividing a limited whole and giving someone a share of it.

• แบ่ง

  bɛ̀ŋ share

  แบ่ง broadly means to separate something into parts. ปัน focuses more on giving one of those parts as someone’s share or assigning it to a particular purpose.