荡 (dàng): to swing

Meanings

1 to swing
2 to sway
3 to wash away
4 to sweep

Characters

荡

dàng

to swing; to wash; to sweep

Examples

HSK 2

小船在湖面上荡来荡去。

Xiǎochuán zài húmiàn shàng dàng lái dàng qù.

The small boat swayed back and forth on the lake.

HSK 7-9

孩子们在公园里荡秋千。

Háizi men zài gōngyuán lǐ dàng qiūqiān.

The children are swinging on swings in the park.

Tips

usage

Common in compounds: 荡秋千 (to swing), 动荡 (turbulent), 扫荡 (to sweep/mop up), 荡漾 (to ripple). The character conveys a sense of sweeping motion.

Components

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant

Top grass radical. Original 荡 named a marshy lake where reeds and water-plants swayed in the wind - the grass radical captured the vegetation, while 汤 below carried the water and the sound. From that swaying-marsh image came the modern senses: to sway, to wash away, to sweep clean.

phonetic

汤 tāng

soup; hot water

Bottom 汤 - water 氵 plus 昜 sunlight, originally 'hot water.' Supplies the sound tāng → dàng with a tone-and-aspiration shift, and carries semantic flavour: rippling, sloshing water in motion. Combined with the grass above, you get a swaying reed-marsh - the etymological core of 荡 (sway, ripple, wash).