吨 (dūn) · ton (unit of weight)

Meanings

1 ton (unit of weight)

Characters

吨

dūn

ton

Examples

HSK 5

一吨等于一千公斤。

Yì dūn děngyú yìqiān gōngjīn.

One ton equals one thousand kilograms.

HSK 7-9

这辆卡车能装五吨货物。

Zhè liàng kǎchē néng zhuāng wǔ dūn huòwù.

This truck can carry five tons of cargo.

HSK 7-9

中国每年生产几亿吨钢铁。

Zhōngguó měinián shēngchǎn jǐyì dūn gāngtiě.

China produces hundreds of millions of tons of steel per year.

Tips

history

吨 is a phonetic loan - the character was created specifically to transliterate the English word 'ton.' The 口 radical indicates a phonetic borrowing.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth (loan-marker)

Left indexing mouth radical - used by convention to mark phonetic loans (foreign words pronounced as they sound). The 口 here is purely structural; 吨 was coined in the 19th century to transliterate English 'ton.' Same loanword pattern in 咖 (kā, coffee), 啡 (fēi, coffee), 喱 (lí, jelly).

phonetic

屯 tún

gather; encampment (here phonetic)

Right 屯 supplies the sound (tún → dūn, dental drift, tone change). 屯 originally pictured a sprout pushing up through soil and came to mean 'gathered / stationed.' Here it carries no semantic load on weight; pure phonetic for the 'ton' loan. Same key in 顿 (dùn), 钝 (dùn), 炖 (dùn).