从 (cóng): from

Meanings

1 from
2 since
3 through

Characters

从

cóng

from; to follow

Two 人 (person) - one person following another.

Examples

HSK 1

我从北京来。

Wǒ cóng Běijīng lái.

I come from Beijing.

HSK 1

从这里走。

Cóng zhèlǐ zǒu.

Go this way (from here).

HSK 1

从早到晚。

Cóng zǎo dào wǎn.

From morning to night.

Tips

grammar

从…到… is the standard 'from…to…' pattern for both time and place: 从北京到上海 'from Beijing to Shanghai,' 从一月到三月 'from January to March.'

Components

radical

人 rén

person (rear)

Rear person - the indexing radical (人 #9). Walking behind the first figure, this gives the core image: one person trailing another in a line. From this physical 'following' came all the modern senses - the source-from preposition, the obeying verb, and the conjunction 'since.'

semantic

人 rén

person (front)

Front person - pictograph of a standing figure leading the way. Stands slightly raised in the compressed left position. Together with the second person, the picture is one person walking behind another: hence 'to follow, from, since.'