吞 (tūn) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

吞

tūn[tun1]Tone 1

to swallow

HSK 6

Guru Deep Dive

English · to swallow

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:7

Writing Balance Rule: The top component (口) should be written smaller and compact, while the bottom component (天) spreads wider to support the upper weight stably.

1. Meaning

to swallow, to gulp down

to absorbto annex or swallow up territoryto engulf

VerbNeutral#action#eating and drinking#military

Sample Usage

他把药丸一口吞了下去。
tā bǎ yàowán yīkǒu tūn le xiàqù.
He swallowed the pill in one gulp.
大公司吞并了小公司。
dà gōngsī tūnbìng le xiǎo gōngsī.
The large corporation annexed the small company.

2. Sound

/[tʰuən⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

吞

tūntun1

¯(55)

=tūn

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Alveolar

Sounds like: t like in stop or top (strongly aspirated)

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Explosive puff of breath! Tissue held before mouth MUST flutter.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip pressed against the alveolar ridge behind the upper front teeth, releasing a burst of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: -un rhymes with soon or moon

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'wuhn'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Abbreviated Rhyme Rule: un is short for uen

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is a high, level pitch, comparable to humming a constant high note on a musical scale.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the initial 't' with 'd'. Remember that 't' in Pinyin is strongly aspirated.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A high, flat line drawn across the top of your field of vision, like a singer holding a high note steadily without dropping pitch.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 7 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top component (口) should be written smaller and compact, while the bottom component (天) spreads wider to support the upper weight stably.

4. Components

Radical 口 · Mouth Radical (mouth, opening)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 口 (Indicates actions performed with or by the mouth, such as eating or swallowing.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 天 (original sound: tiān / tūn phonetic cross-over)

A mouth (口) positioned above the sky or grand shape (天) depicts taking something down into the body, symbolizing swallowing whole.

口 Mouth
天 Sky / great expanse acting here as phonetic/structural base

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

4· Phonetic Root: 天 (tiān)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally created by combining the mouth symbol (口) with a phonetic indicator (天). The visual portrays food entering or passing down the mouth.

Semantic Evolution: From the literal physical action of swallowing food or liquid, it extended metaphorically to swallowing grief, swallowing anger, or swallowing up (annexing) land and companies.

Ancient texts used it interchangeably with similar verbal action words regarding consumption.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

thôn

Mandarin Tone 1 corresponds to ngang tone in Sino-Vietnamese.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: トン (ton) / Kun: のむ (nomu)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

톳 / 톤

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine opening your MOUTH (口) wide to swallow the entire SKY (天) in one gulp!

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

添

tiānto addHas the water radical (氵) on the left, adding liquid or increments.

舔

tiǎnto lickUses the tongue radical (舌) on the left, referring to licking rather than swallowing.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

天(tiān)

天 means 'sky' and lacks the mouth (口) box at the top.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

小明一口把苹果给[___]了下去。

Clue: tūn

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the order of components or writing the top part as a generic square instead of the compact mouth character.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 吞 mean and how is it pronounced in Tone 1?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to swallow', which combines 'mouth' and 'sky'?

吞tūnto swallow

Speed:

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