瓮 (wèng) · earthenware jar, urn

Measure Word

一口瓮 kǒu

Meanings

1 earthenware jar
2 urn
3 pottery vessel (for water, wine, or grain)

Characters

瓮

wèng

earthenware jar / pottery urn

Examples

HSK 6

院子里摆着几口大瓮。

Yuànzi lǐ bǎi zhe jǐ kǒu dà wèng.

Several large earthenware jars were placed in the courtyard.

HSK 6

古代人用瓮储存粮食。

Gǔdài rén yòng wèng chǔcún liángshi.

In ancient times, people used earthenware jars to store grain.

Tips

culture

瓮 features in the famous idiom 瓮中捉鳖 ('catch a turtle in a jar') - meaning to trap someone with no escape route, like shooting fish in a barrel. The image: once inside the jar, the turtle cannot climb out.

Components

radical

瓦 wǎ

tile; earthenware

Bottom tile radical - a pictograph of interlocking roof tiles. Indexes 瓮 in the ceramic family alongside 瓶 bottle, 盆 basin, 瓷 porcelain. Carries the meaning: a 瓮 is a wide-bellied earthenware jar with a narrow mouth, fired clay for storing water, wine, or pickled vegetables.

phonetic

公 gōng

public

Top 公 supplies the sound: gōng drifted to wèng via a regular g/w alternation with vowel change. 公 itself shows things divided and shared in public, but the imagery doesn’t transfer - borrowed purely as a sound marker. Same shift pattern echoes in older readings of 翁, which shares this phonetic.