瓮 (wèng): earthenware jar

Measure Word

一口瓮 kǒu

Meanings

1 earthenware jar
2 urn
3 pottery vessel (for water, wine, or grain)

Characters

瓮

wèng

earthenware jar / pottery urn

Examples

院子里摆着几口大瓮。

Yuànzi lǐ bǎi zhe jǐ kǒu dà wèng.

Several large earthenware jars were placed in the courtyard.

古代人用瓮储存粮食。

Gǔdài rén yòng wèng chǔcún liángshí.

In ancient times, people used earthenware jars to store grain.

Tips

culture

瓮 features in the famous idiom 瓮中捉鳖 (wèng zhōng zhuō biē, 'catch a turtle in a jar') — meaning to trap someone with no escape route, like shooting fish in a barrel. The image: once inside the jar, the turtle cannot climb out.

Components

radical

瓦 wǎ

tile; earthenware

Bottom tile radical — a pictograph of interlocking roof tiles. Indexes 瓮 in the ceramic family alongside 瓶 bottle, 盆 basin, 瓷 porcelain. Carries the meaning: a 瓮 is a wide-bellied earthenware jar with a narrow mouth, fired clay for storing water, wine, or pickled vegetables.

phonetic

公 gōng

public; duke (here phonetic)

Top 公 supplies the sound: gōng drifted to wèng via a regular g/w alternation with vowel change. 公 itself shows things divided and shared in public, but the imagery doesn't transfer — borrowed purely as a sound marker. Same shift pattern echoes in older readings of 翁 (wēng), which shares this phonetic.