痛 (tòng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

痛

tòng[tong4]Tone 4

pain

HSK 3

Guru Deep Dive

English · pain

Cached lesson

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Topology:Full enclosure

Strokes:12

Writing Balance Rule: The outer enclosure (the sickness enclosure) must arch wide and tall, while the inner component (Yong) is nested neatly underneath and inside without touching the right wall.

1. Meaning

pain

achesorrowdeeplythoroughly

Adjective / Noun / AdverbNeutral#emotions#sensations#health

Sample Usage

我头痛。
wǒ tóu tòng.
I have a headache.
痛改前非
tòng gǎi qián fēi
to thoroughly correct one's past misdeeds

2. Sound

/[tʰoŋ˥˩]/Tone: 51

痛

tòngtong4

`(51)

=tòng

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Alveolar

Sounds like: t sound

Aspirated

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge behind upper front teeth, 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

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 drops sharply from high to low, identical to a sharp command or an expression of sudden pain like 'Down!'

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the 4th tone (falling 51) with the 1st tone (high level 55) or 3rd tone (dipping 214).

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply down like a nodding 'yes' or a sudden drop in pitch, matching the English exclamation 'Ouch!'

3. Writing

Topology: Full enclosure · Strokes: 12 strokes

4. Components

Radical 疒 · Sickness Radical (illness, disease, bed)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 疒 (indicates illness or physical suffering)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 甬 (original sound: tong)

A person is lying in bed under the sickness radical (疒), feeling pain that shoots straight through like a tunnel (甬).

疒 Sickness radical, indicating bodily ailment
甬 Provides the pronunciation 'tong'

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

15· Phonetic Root: 甬 (yǒng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combination of the sickness signifier (疒) and the phonetic component (甬), originally denoting physical ache or injury.

Semantic Evolution: Expanded from pure physical pain and wounds to emotional sorrow (e.g., heart pain) and adverbial usage meaning 'thoroughly' or 'deeply'.

The sickness radical appears in many characters related to medical conditions and ailments.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

thống

Corresponds to the sắc tone in Vietnamese.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: トウ / Kun: いた.む, いた.い

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

통

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

When you are sick in bed (疒), pain shoots right through your body like a subway tunnel (甬).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

桶

tǒngbucket, pailUses the wood radical (木) instead of sickness (疒).

诵

sòngreciteUses the speech radical (讠) instead of sickness (疒).

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

痛(tòng)

Look closely at the inner component; ensure you do not confuse it with similar phonetic radicals.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我昨天跑步跑得太多，今天腿很[___]。

Clue: tòng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the placement of strokes inside the sickness enclosure or misapplying tone 4 as tone 1.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 痛 mean when attached to 头 (tóu - head)?

Production: How do you write the character for 'pain' or 'ache' (tòng) using the sickness radical?

痛tòngpain

Speed:

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