庸 (yōng): mediocre

Meanings

1 mediocre
2 ordinary
3 commonplace
4 (archaic) to use; to need

Characters

庸

yōng

ordinary; to use

Examples

他是一个庸医，治不好这个病。

Tā shì yīgè yōngyī, zhì buhǎo zhège bìng.

He's a quack doctor — he can't cure this illness.

毋庸置疑，这是事实。

Wúyōngzhìyí, zhè shì shìshí.

Without a doubt, this is a fact.

Tips

usage

Modern senses cluster around 'mediocre/ordinary' — 平庸 (mediocre), 庸俗 (vulgar), 庸医 (quack doctor), 庸人 (a nobody). The archaic 'use/need' sense survives in fixed expressions: 毋庸置疑 ('no need to doubt') and 无庸讳言 ('no need to hide it').

history

中庸, the Confucian classic 'Doctrine of the Mean' (one of the Four Books, 四书), uses 庸 in its older sense of 'constant, unchanging' — the title means 'centred and constant', not 'mediocre middle'.

Components

radical

广 yǎn

shelter; roof on cliff (radical)

Outer shelter radical 广 — a roof leaning against a cliff. The indexing radical, marking 庸 as a roofed building or sheltered activity. Filing convention only; etymologically 庸 originally meant 'to use, employ' and the shelter top is secondary. Same wrapper covers 店 (shop), 库 (warehouse), 床 (bed), 庙 (temple).

semantic

彐 jì

pig's snout; hand (stylized)

Upper inner 彐 — a stylized hand or pig's head shape. In 庸 it sits above 用 as the historical 庚-element collapsed into this hand-like form. Carries the action sense — a hand wielding the implement below. Same component in 当, 录, 雪. Indexed under Kangxi #53 广 (guǎng, shelter) — the wrapping roof above.

phonetic

用 yòng

to use; employ

Lower inner 用 supplies the sound — yòng shifting to yōng — plus the core meaning. 庸 was classically glossed as 用 itself: 'to use, to employ, common service'. From there came the senses 'ordinary, mediocre' (庸俗, 平庸) — what is in everyday use is what is common. Same phonetic in 拥 (embrace), 镛 (large bell).