tǒng
verb #17,575

Meanings

  1. 1 to unite
  2. 2 to unify
  3. 3 whole
  4. 4 system

Examples

HSK 3
Zhěnggè gōngsī yòng yī tào tǒngyī de guǎnlǐ xìtǒng.
The whole company runs on one unified management system.
HSK 3
Tā xǐhuan chuān chuántǒng de fúzhuāng.
She likes to wear traditional clothing.
HSK 7-9
秦始皇统一六国建立中央集权帝国
Qínshǐhuáng tǒngyī le liùguó, jiànlì le zhōngyāng jíquán de dìguó.
Qin Shi Huang unified the six states and established a centralized empire.

Tips

memory
(silk) + (fill) - one thread connecting everything.

Components

radical
silk (radical form of 糸)
Left silk radical - three-stroke side-form of , a tied bundle of silk threads. Carries the meaning: originally meant the main thread that all others wind around - the central strand of a skein. From this came the abstract senses of unifying, governing, and gathering into one system.
phonetic
chōng
to fill; full
Right supplies the sound - chōng drifting to tǒng through the regular ch/t alternation. Same phonetic frames pain, bucket, tube, all sharing the tǒng/tòng reading. Borrowed for sound; the 'filling, gathering' flavour of also softly reinforces the unifying meaning.

Stroke Order

tǒng