number of times, foreign

番 is composed of 釆 (separate) and 田 (field). 釆 is the pictograph of grain kernels separating and falling from the stalk of a rice plant, and since grain kernels are seeds, 番 conveys the idea of scattering seeds into a field; this original sense was later taken over by the character 播. Because the plants that later grow in the field are foreign species introduced by human sowing rather than native to the place, 番 came to mean something foreign or external. Moreover, since one sowing leads to one harvest, 番 also means “time” or “turn” in the sense of occurrences or instances.