用 (yòng) · to use

Meanings

1 to use

Characters

用

yòng

to use; with; need

Examples

HSK 1

你用什么？

Nǐ yòng shénme?

What are you using?

HSK 1

我可以用你的手机吗？

Wǒ kěyǐ yòng nǐ de shǒujī ma?

Can I use your phone?

HSK 1

用中文说。

Yòng Zhōngwén shuō.

Say it in Chinese.

Tips

grammar

用 can mean 'to use' (verb) or 'with/using' (preposition): 用筷子吃饭 (eat with chopsticks). 不用 means 'no need to': 不用谢 (no need to thank me).

Components

pictograph

用 yòng

to use

Self-radical (Kangxi #101) - 用 indexes itself and stays as one pictographic component. Originally a wooden bucket viewed from the front: rectangular outline as body, central vertical as a handle or seam, inner horizontals as reinforcement bands. From the 'common everyday tool' came the verb 'to use, employ.' Don't fake-split - the inner strokes aren't independent.

Radical

Use Kangxi #101

A very small radical group with almost no productivity. The character itself, derived from a pictograph of a wooden bucket, is one of the highest-frequency words in Chinese, but as an indexing radical it covers only a handful of rare entries (e.g. 甭 = 不用 squashed together, meaning 'needn't').