扔 (rēng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

扔

rēng[reng1]Tone 1

to throw

HSK 5

Guru Deep Dive

English · to throw

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:5

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (hand component) is narrow and compact, while the right phonetic component occupies the majority of the horizontal space, maintaining a balanced 1:2 width ratio.

1. Meaning

to throw, to toss, to cast

to throw awayto discardto abandon

VerbNeutral / Colloquial#physical action#movement#disposal

Sample Usage

请把垃圾扔进垃圾桶。
Qǐng bǎ lājī rēng jìn lājītǒng.
Please throw the trash into the trash can.
他把球扔给了我。
Tā bǎ qiú rēng gěi le wǒ.
He threw the ball to me.

2. Sound

/[ʐɤŋ⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

扔

rēngreng1

¯(55)

=rēng

Initial Consonant

Type: Voiced Retroflex Approximant

Sounds like: Retroflex approximant j/dr sound

UnaspiratedRetroflex

Airflow Tactile Test: Voiced vibration in throat with curled tongue.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back toward the hard palate without touching it, creating friction for a retroflex approximant.

Final Rhyme

eng

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: -eng rhymes with rung

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

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

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 maintains a flat, high pitch level, similar to a sustained musical note or a steady 'ahhh' at the doctor's office.

👂

Listening trap: Beginners often confuse the retroflex 'r-' sound with the English 'r' (which is not retroflex and is heavily labialized) or mistake it for 'l-' if not listening carefully to the tongue position.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 is a high, flat pitch. Imagine holding a single high musical note steady across a flat table: rēng.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 5 strokes

4. Components

Radical 扌 · Hand radical (Hand actions, touching, or manipulation)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (Indicates that the action is performed using the hand (throwing).)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 乃 (original sound: nǎi)

The left side is the hand radical (扌), showing that a hand is involved. The right side (乃) provides the approximate sound 'n/r'. Together they form rēng (to throw).

扌 Hand action
乃 Phonetic clue

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

7· Phonetic Root: 乃 (nǎi)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the semantic hand radical (扌) indicating an action done with the hand, and (乃) which acts as a phonetic indicator giving the sound.

Semantic Evolution: Originally denoting a hand gesture or action of casting/propelling, it generalized to mean throwing, discarding, or abandoning objects.

The character evolved during the regular script era to standardize hand-related manual labor and motion verbs.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You use your HAND (扌) to grab something and NAI-ly (乃) TOSS it across the room—RĒNG! You are throwing it away.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

奶

nǎimilkUses woman radical (女) + 乃 for milk.

艿

rěntuber / herbUses grass radical (艹) + 乃 for a plant.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

奶(nǎi)

奶 has the woman radical (女) for mother/milk, whereas 扔 has the hand radical (扌) for throwing.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

请把废纸[___]进垃圾桶里。

Clue: rēng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the hand radical (扌) with the female radical (女), leading to mixing up 扔 (rēng - to throw) with 奶 (nǎi - milk).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 扔, what action does it represent and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to throw' (rēng), and what radical does it use?

扔rēngto throw

Speed:

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