Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (木) should be narrower and slightly higher, while the right phonetic component (甬) occupies more space and extends lower.
1. Meaning
bucket, pail, barrel
trash cancylinder-shaped container
NounNeutral#containers#household items#measure words
Sample Usage
水桶
shuǐtǒng
water bucket
垃圾桶
lājītǒng
trash can
2. Sound
/[tʰʊŋ²¹⁴]/Tone: 214
桶
tǒngtong3
|
++
ˇ(214)
=tǒng
Build the syllable
Step-by-step blending
tong
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
t
Type: Aspirated Alveolar
Sounds like: t as in top
Aspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: Explosive puff of breath! Tissue held before mouth MUST flutter.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge, releasing a burst of air.
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 saying 'What?' in disbelief.
Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone, tǒng changes to a 2nd tone (35).
👂
Listening trap: Confusing the 3rd tone dip with a flat 1st tone or sharp 4th tone, changing the word's inflection completely.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Start at a mid pitch, dip down smoothly to the lowest pitch in your chest, and then glide up high, tracing a checkmark in the air.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (木) should be narrower and slightly higher, while the right phonetic component (甬) occupies more space and extends lower.
4. Components
Radical木 · Wood Radical (tree, wood)
Semantic Clue (形旁):木 (indicates that the bucket is traditionally made of wood)
A wooden container (木) shaped like a cylinder or tube (甬) to hold liquids.
木 wood / material
甬 path / tube / phonetic helper
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
15· Phonetic Root: 甬 (yǒng)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Combined from the wood sign (木) indicating the material of ancient buckets, and (甬) which provides the phonetic pronunciation.
Semantic Evolution: Originally referred specifically to wooden buckets used for carrying water, later generalized to containers of similar shape made of plastic, metal, or paper (such as trash cans or oil barrels).
Ancient Chinese buckets were primarily coopered from wooden staves held together by bamboo or metal hoops.
6. Sinosphere
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Imagine a wooden (木) cylinder (甬) that you carry water in—a sturdy wooden bucket (tǒng).
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
甬
yǒngYong River 甬江[Yong3 Jiang1] in Ningbo 寧波|宁波[Ning2 bo1]; short name for NingboPhonetic Core (声旁)