动 (dòng): to move

Meanings

1 to move
2 to act
3 to use

Characters

动

dòng

to move; to act

云 (cloud) + 力 (strength) — strength that moves things

Examples

别动！

Bié dòng!

Don't move!

这个箱子太重了，搬不动。

Zhè ge xiāngzi tài zhòng le, bān bú dòng.

This box is too heavy, I can't move it.

Tips

grammar

动 as a complement indicates ability to move something: 搬得动 (can move it), 搬不动 (can't move it), 吃不动了 (too full to eat more).

Components

radical

力 lì

strength; force

Right indexing radical 力 — a pictograph of a flexed muscular arm or a hand-plough. Brings the sense of effort, physical action. Combined with the contracted left side: applying force to make something move. Family of force-radical verbs: 加 (add), 助 (help), 努 (exert), 劳 (toil).

phonetic

云 yún

cloud

Left 云 — in simplified 动 this is a stylised replacement for the original phonetic 重 (heavy) of traditional 動. The PRC reform substituted the simpler 4-stroke 云 shape; pronounced yún on its own but here just a graphic stand-in for the old phonetic. Reading the modern char as 'cloud + force' is mnemonic only, not etymological.