Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical (shǒupáng) slender and compact, leaving ample horizontal space for the complex right-hand phonetic component 龙.
Simplification Logic: The traditional form 攏 uses the full traditional form of 龍 on the right, while the simplified form 拢 adopts the simplified 龙.
1. Meaning
to gather together or collect
to approach or draw near toto add or sum upto comb hair
VerbNeutral#action#movement#grooming
Sample Usage
把散落的纸张拢起来。
bǎ sànluò de zhǐzhāng lǒng qǐlái.
Gather the scattered papers together.
船慢慢向岸边拢去。
chuán mànmàn xiàng ànbian lǒng qù.
The boat slowly draws near to the shore.
2. Sound
/[lʊŋ²¹⁴]/Tone: 214
攏
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
l
Type: Alveolar Lateral
Sounds like: l sound as in 'love'
Unaspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: Air flows freely around both sides of tongue.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge just behind the upper front teeth, letting air flow out the sides.
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 down like a disappointed sigh and rises back up like a question, exactly matching the English incredulous 'Really?'.
Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, lǒng changes to a 2nd tone (rising 35).
👂
Listening trap: Do not confuse the final '-ong' with '-ang' or '-eng'. Ensure the lips remain rounded throughout the vowel.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down from chest level to the lowest point and sweep upward to eye level.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 18 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical (shǒupáng) slender and compact, leaving ample horizontal space for the complex right-hand phonetic component 龙.
Simplification Logic: The traditional form 攏 uses the full traditional form of 龍 on the right, while the simplified form 拢 adopts the simplified 龙.
4. Components
Radical扌 · Hand Radical (Hand, manual action)
Semantic Clue (形旁):扌 (Indicates actions performed with the hand, such as gathering, pulling, or combing.)
Phonetic Clue (声旁):龙 (original sound: lóng)
A hand (扌) reaches out to tame or gather together a majestic dragon (龙), bringing everything under control.
扌 Hand action
龙 Provides the sound lóng
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
13· Phonetic Root: 龍
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Combined from the hand radical 扌 (indicating physical action) and 龙 lóng (providing the phonetic reading). It originally denoted gathering or wrapping things together with the hands.
Semantic Evolution: Over time, the meaning expanded from physically gathering objects to approaching a destination (drawing near) and summing up totals.
The inclusion of the hand radical emphasizes active manipulation or collection.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
lung
The Sino-Vietnamese reading 'lung' shares a similar rhyming structure with the Mandarin final '-ong'.
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ロウ (rō)
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
롱
Sound Shift Bridge: Mandarin initial 'l-' corresponds to English 'l-', and the final '-ong' aligns closely with rounded nasal-back vowel approximations.
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
With your bare HAND (扌), you reach out to GRAB and GATHER a wild DRAGON (龙) by its tail, pulling it close to you.