cóng
preposition HSK 1 #92

Meanings

  1. 1 from
  2. 2 since
  3. 3 through

Characters

Two (person) — one person following another.

Examples

Wǒ cóng Běijīng lái.
I come from Beijing.
Cóng zhèlǐ zǒu.
Go this way (from here).
Cóng zǎo dào wǎn.
From morning to night.

Tips

grammar
… is the standard 'from…to…' pattern for both time and place: 北京上海 'from Beijing to Shanghai,' 一月三月 'from January to March.'

Components

radical
rén
person (rear)
Rear person — the indexing radical ( #9). Walking behind the first figure, this gives the core image: one person trailing another in a line. From this physical 'following' came all the modern senses — the source-from preposition, the obeying verb, and the conjunction 'since.'
semantic
rén
person (front)
Front person — pictograph of a standing figure leading the way. Stands slightly raised in the compressed left position. Together with the second person, the picture is one person walking behind another: hence 'to follow, from, since.'

Stroke Order

cóng