分 fēn divide; part
Made up of [刀 dāo knife , 八 bā eight; 8 radical 12]Used as component 分 in :份 fèn ; 纷 fēn ; 盼 pàn ; 盆 pén ; 贫 pín ; 扮 bàn
Made with 4 strokes.
A combination of character for 'division' and 'knife' to reinforce the notion
Ancient small seal form 
Related characters
Also uses 刀 dāo component: 初 chū (at first) 剪 jiǎn (scissors) ; 所 suǒ (actually) ; 照 zhào (according to)
Also uses 八 bā component: 戴 dài (to respect) 共 gòng (common) ; 公 gōng (public) ; 关 guān (shut) ; 黄 huáng (yellow) ; 陵 líng (mound) ; 六 liù (six) ; 其 qí (his) ; 商 shāng (commerce) ; 四 sì (four) ; 兴 xīng (prosper) ; 穴 xué (cave)
Sounds same
纷 fēn (numerous)Different tone
份 fèn (portion)Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
Stroke order for character 分, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license ➚
Proverbs
一分耕耘, 一分收获 yī fēn gēng yún, yī fēn shōu huò Hard work is needed to achieve a good result. Can't expect a harvest without cultivating the crop.一分钱,一分货 yī fēn qián, yī fēn huò You cant buy something for nothing
月到中秋分外明, 每逢佳节倍思亲 yuè dào zhōng qiū fèn wài míng, měi féng jiā jié bèi sī qīn Longing to see family from far away
入木三分 rù mù sān fēn To write with such confidence that the wood is etched away to a good depth. So this means to write with a profound and forceful hand. The story is of the great calligrapher who produced some calligraphy so confidently written that the characters were etched by 3/10th of an inch.
分道扬镳 fēn dào yáng biāo Choosing to go separate ways due to different plans and ambitions.