tóng
noun #9,197

Meanings

  1. 1 ketone (chemistry)

Examples

Bǐngtóng shì yī zhǒng chángjiàn de yǒujī róngjì.
Acetone is a common organic solvent.
Shēngtóng yǐnshí xiànzài hěn liúxíng.
The ketogenic diet is very popular now.

Tips

memory
The radical on the left relates to fermentation and alcohol - ketones are organic compounds structurally related to alcohols. The right side (tóng) gives the pronunciation.

Components

radical
yǒu
wine jug; tenth earthly branch
Left wine-jug radical - pictograph of a narrow-necked liquor vessel, the indexing radical. Marks in the chemistry/fermentation family alongside (wine), (vinegar), (acid), (alcohol). All organic-chemistry terms in Chinese (ketone, ester, aldehyde) reach for because they share the underlying smell-and-distillation logic.
phonetic
tóng
same; together
Right side supplies the sound directly (tóng → tóng, exact match). Pure phonetic role; the 'same / together' meaning is unused here. Modern chemical names for ketones - 丙酮 (acetone), 苯酮 (benzophenone) - all stack onto this radical-phonetic frame.

Stroke Order

tóng