English · to send, to deliver, to give as a present
Cached lesson
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Topology:Left-right
Strokes:9
Writing Balance Rule: The left component (辵/⻌ walk rad) must wrap gracefully under and around the right component (关), keeping the center of gravity stable.
1. Meaning
to send or deliver something
to give a giftto escort or see someone offto accompany
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip lightly close to the back of the upper teeth, air escaping through a narrow groove without friction from the vocal cords.
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 starts high and plunges sharply like an angry command or a sharp sigh of exasperation.
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Listening trap: Confusing the initial 's-' with the retroflex 'sh-' sound, or mixing up Tone 4 (51) with Tone 1 (55).
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Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 4 is a sharp downward chop, starting high and dropping abruptly to the bottom, like nodding 'no' firmly.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The left component (辵/⻌ walk rad) must wrap gracefully under and around the right component (关), keeping the center of gravity stable.
4. Components
Radical⻌ · Walk Radical (Movement, motion, travelling)
Semantic Clue (形旁):⻌ (Indicates movement, walking, or transmitting something along a path.)
You are moving forward (⻌ walk radical) to close a deal or hand over a gate/barrier (关) by delivering a package or giving a gift.
⻌ Movement or path
关 Gate, connection, or phonetic clue
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Originally combined the walking/movement radical (⻌) with a phonetic and conceptual element denoting passing or giving across a barrier (关).
Semantic Evolution: Over time, the meaning broadened from physically escorting someone on a journey or transmitting goods across a frontier to any act of delivering, sending, or presenting a gift.
The walking radical ⻌ (chuò) frequently signifies actions involving travel, escorting, or moving objects from one place to another.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
tống
Mandarin Tone 4 (falling) corresponds conceptually to Vietnamese sắc or nặng depending on historical register, here yielding tống.
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Kanji (Japanese)
On: ソウ / Kun: おく.る
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Hanja (Korean)
송
Sound Shift Bridge: The ending -ong correlates across East Asian borrowings and ancient rhyme dictionaries.
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Imagine you walk (⻌) up to the station gate (关) to SEE OFF (sòng) a friend who is taking a trip, handing them a farewell gift.
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
送
sòngto send, to deliverBase character with walking radical
颂
sòngto praise, to laudReplaces walking radical with speech radical (讠)
痛
tòngpain, acheUses illness radical (疒) instead of walking