壟 (lǒng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

壟

lǒng[long3]Tone 3

ridge between fields

HSK 7

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垄

Guru Deep Dive

English · ridge between fields

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:19

Writing Balance Rule: The top component (龙) must be compressed slightly to make room for the heavy bottom component (土), keeping the vertical axis centered.

Simplification Logic: Traditional 壟 simplifies the phonetic core by using 龙 and places 土 at the base.

1. Meaning

ridge between fields or crop row

grave moundmonopoly (as in 垄断)

NounFormal / Literary / Agricultural#agriculture#geography#economy

Sample Usage

田垄
tiánlǒng
ridge of a field
垄断
lǒngduàn
monopoly

2. Sound

/[lʊŋ²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

壟

lǒnglong3

ˇ(214)

=lǒng

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

long

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "o" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Alveolar Lateral

Sounds like: English l sound

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Air flows freely around both sides of tongue.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip pressed against the alveolar ridge just behind the upper front teeth.

Final Rhyme

ong

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: -ong rhymes with rung

Mouth Shape Guide: Combine initial 'h-' (h) with final '-ong' (oong).

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

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips low and rises, similar to a skeptical English 'Really?' or 'Huh?'.

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone, it changes to a 2nd tone (rising 35).

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the low dipping tone 3 with tone 4, making it sound clipped instead of fully dropping and rising.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down from chest level to the lowest point, then rise sharply upward to chin height.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 19 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top component (龙) must be compressed slightly to make room for the heavy bottom component (土), keeping the vertical axis centered.

Simplification Logic: Traditional 壟 simplifies the phonetic core by using 龙 and places 土 at the base.

4. Components

Radical 土 · Earth radical (earth, soil, ground)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 土 (indicates earth, soil, and ground)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 龙 (original sound: long)

Earth (土) mounded up by a dragon (龙) forms a high agricultural ridge (垄).

龙 Provides the pronunciation 'lóng'
土 Provides the meaning of earth and soil

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

13· Phonetic Root: 龍

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from 土 (soil) for meaning and 龙 (dragon) for sound, representing raised earth resembling a coiled dragon.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred specifically to high mounds of earth in agricultural fields, later extended to describe economic monopolies ('blocking the ridges/market').

Ancient farmers raised ridges in fields to improve drainage and crop yield.
The character is heavily featured in classical and modern agricultural terminology.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ロウ / Kun: あぜ

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

壟

Sound Shift Bridge: Shares the 'long' phonological root found across various Sinitic borrowings.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

A majestic dragon (龙) coils through the muddy earth (土), carving out high parallel ridges (垄) in the farmland.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

龍

Phonetic Core (声旁)

嚨

+ 口 (mouth)

寵

+ 宀 (roof)

攏

+ 扌 (hand)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

笼(lóng)

笼 has the bamboo top (竹) for cages; 垄 has soil at the bottom (土) for crop ridges.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

農民在田[___]上種滿了莊稼。

Clue: lǒng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the 19-stroke complexity of 垄 with simpler components sharing the same phonetic root like 龙.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 垄 mean when paired with 土 and 龙?

Production: How do you write the character for 'field ridge' (lǒng) using soil and dragon components?

壟lǒngridge between fields

Speed:

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