頓 (dùn) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

頓

dùn[dun4]Tone 4

to stop, pause, meal classifier

HSK 3

View Simplified FormSwitch to Simplified

顿

Guru Deep Dive

English · to stop, pause, meal classifier

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (vehicle radical 车) is narrower and slightly compressed, leaving ample room for the right phonetic component 屯 to maintain horizontal balance.

Simplification Logic: Traditional 頓 simplifies the phonetic right component 屯 while keeping the left vehicle radical 车 intact.

1. Meaning

to pause, stop, or arrange; also used as a classifier for meals or occurrences

to kowtow (bowing and touching the head to the ground)to stamp one's footat once, suddenlyclassifier for meals, scoldings, or beatings

Verb / ClassifierNeutral#actions#quantifiers#time

Sample Usage

吃了一顿饭
chī le yí dùn fàn
ate a meal
稍等片刻，不要顿。
shāo děng piàn kè, bú yào dùn.
Wait a moment, do not stop.

2. Sound

/[tu̯ən⁵¹]/Tone: 51

頓

dùndun4

`(51)

=dùn

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Alveolar

Sounds like: d sound as in English 'dog'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No puff of air. Tissue remains still (sounds like English 't' in 'stop').

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip pressed against the alveolar ridge behind the upper front teeth.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: -un rhymes with 'oon' or 'un' in run

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

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

Abbreviated Rhyme Rule: un is short for uen

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and plunges straight down, just like expressing a firm command or exclamation of 'No!' in English.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the neutral ending or confusing it with tone 1 (dūn) or tone 3 (dǔn).

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, decisive nod of the head downwards, matching the falling tone 4.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (vehicle radical 车) is narrower and slightly compressed, leaving ample room for the right phonetic component 屯 to maintain horizontal balance.

Simplification Logic: Traditional 頓 simplifies the phonetic right component 屯 while keeping the left vehicle radical 车 intact.

4. Components

Radical 车 · Vehicle Radical (cart, vehicle, carriage)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 车 (Indicates movement, carriages, or stopping a vehicle)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 屯 (original sound: tún)

A vehicle (车) that must gather and stop or pause (屯) along its journey.

车 Vehicle / Cart (left side)
屯 Store / Gather / Pause (right side)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

17· Phonetic Root: 屯 (tún)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the vehicle radical (车) and the sound/meaning component 屯 (to store, to gather), originally depicting a carriage stopping or halting to gather supplies.

Semantic Evolution: Moved from the literal stopping of a cart to any general pause, interruption, or arrangement, and eventually became a classifier for discrete events like meals or scoldings.

The classifier usage for meals likely evolved from the idea of a 'halting' or structured interval during the day.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: トン

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

둔

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine a heavy cart (车) carrying supplies that has to stop and pause (屯) every few miles for a meal.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

屯

túnto store, to gatherBase phonetic component without the vehicle radical.

纯

chúnpureReplaces the vehicle radical with the silk radical (纟).

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

吨(dūn)

Uses the mouth radical (口) instead of the vehicle radical (车), meaning 'ton' (weight unit).

钝(dùn)

Uses the metal radical (钅) instead of the vehicle radical (车), meaning 'blunt' or 'dull'.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我們一天吃三[___]飯。

Clue: dùn

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 顿 (dùn - pause/meal classifier) with 吨 (dūn - ton) due to the identical right-side phonetic component.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 顿 mean when used as a classifier?

Production: How do you write the character for 'meal classifier' / 'to pause' (dùn)?

頓dùnto stop, pause, meal classifier

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0