返回(fǎn huí) - to return, to go back in Mandarin

返回 (fǎn huí) means to go back to a place you came from. It is the formal register: news reports, travel announcements, mission logs, and the "back" button on almost every Chinese app or website.

Because both halves already mean "return", the word feels weightier than plain 回. A friend says 我回家了; a flight crew says 航班返回上海.

The trap is direction. 回来 and 回去 bake the speaker's position into the verb, so you cannot say 回来北京 without a bit of contortion, whereas 返回 is neutral and takes its destination straight afterwards: 返回北京, 返回学校, 返回原点. If you want a plain spoken sentence about going home, use 回去 or 回家 and save 返回 for writing, announcements and screens.