The Chinese word pan means "striped or spotted"; yin is the zodiacal sign for the tiger; and the character t'e means "strange or peculiar" and contains the radical for "ox."
林中猛虎、廢耕老牛，在月明星稀之夜，俱成夜讀書生的座上客。酒助談興之下，兩「斑」明來暗往，從藉田單火牛破燕之計、班超燕頷虎頭之相以明志，到卞莊殺虎、庖丁解牛的互譏，兩不相讓。