桐 (tóng): paulownia tree

Meanings

1 paulownia tree
2 tung tree (general term for several trees in classical Chinese)

Characters

桐

tóng

paulownia tree; tung tree

Examples

古人用桐木制作古琴。

Gǔrén yòng tóng mùzhì zuò gǔqín.

Ancient people used paulownia wood to make guqin zithers.

院子里种了一棵桐树。

Yuànzi lǐ zhòng le yī kē tóng shù.

A paulownia tree was planted in the courtyard.

Tips

culture

桐 (paulownia) is historically prized in Chinese culture as the preferred wood for making traditional string instruments, especially the 古琴 (guqin) and 古筝 (guzheng). Its light, resonant wood produces excellent acoustic qualities. In classical poetry, 梧桐 (wútóng, Chinese parasol tree) often symbolizes autumn and loneliness.

Components

radical

木 mù

tree; wood

Left tree radical — pictograph of a tree, the indexing radical for arboreal characters. In 桐 it marks the paulownia, a fast-growing hardwood prized for guqin sound-boards. Same family of named trees: 桃 peach, 杨 poplar, 柳 willow, 松 pine, 柏 cypress.

phonetic

同 tóng

same; together (phonetic)

Right 同 supplies the sound tóng exactly, with no drift. Pair it with the tree on the left and you have a clean phono-semantic compound. The same phonetic kernel runs through 铜 copper, 筒 tube, 痌 ache, 胴 trunk of the body — all tóng-readings indexed by their own radical.