盾 (dùn): shield, (currency) Vietnamese dong, currency unit of several countries (Indonesian rupiah, Dutch gulden etc)
盾 (dùn) is a Chinese character meaning “shield.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 厂 (structural), 十 (structural) and 目 (structural). It ranks #1387 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 盾 an eye 目 peering from behind a shield 厂. Its radical form 目 (eye) appears in many related characters such as 看 (kàn, to look, to see), 真 (zhēn, really), 着 (zhe, -ing, to wear).
Definitions
- shield
- (currency) Vietnamese dong
- currency unit of several countries (Indonesian rupiah, Dutch gulden etc)
Etymology & Origin
ideographicAn eye 目 peering from behind a shield 厂
Decomposition: ⿸厂⿱十目 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 盾 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 盾
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 盾牌noun | dùn pái | shield |
| 后盾noun | hòu dùn | support |
| 自相矛盾phrase | zì xiāng máo dùn | to contradict oneself |
| 荷兰盾noun | hé lán dùn | Dutch gulden |
| 金盾工程 | jīn dùn gōng chéng | Golden Shield Project, information system for censorship and surveillance, thought to include the Great Firewall of C... |
| 人民内部矛盾noun | rén mín nèi bù máo dùn | internal contradiction among the people (pretext for a purge) |
| 以子之矛，攻子之盾 | yǐ zǐ zhī máo , gōng zǐ zhī dùn | lit. use sb's spear to attack his shield (idiom, derived from Han Feizi 韓非子|韩非子) |
| 宙斯盾战斗系统 | zhòu sī dùn zhàn dòu xì tǒng | Aegis Combat System (weapons system developed for the US Navy) |
| 人盾noun | rén dùn | human shield |
| 盾构机noun | dùn gòu jī | tunnel boring machine |
| 越南盾noun | yuè nán dùn | Vietnamese dong (currency) |
| 内部矛盾 | nèi bù máo dùn | internal contradiction |
| 敌我矛盾noun | dí wǒ máo dùn | contradictions between ourselves and the enemy |
| 印尼盾noun | yìn ní dùn | Indonesian rupiah |
| 护盾noun | hù dùn | (historical weaponry) shield |
盾 appears in 25 compound words: 12 as the first character, 76 as the last, and 12 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 盾 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
这个盾字在古汉语中有不同的含义。
zhè gě dùn zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .
The character "shield" carries different meanings in classical Chinese.
Manner滇红茶拿铁,蒙牛悠瑞安糖盾(自研益生菌中老年奶粉)
M a n n e r 滇 hóng chá ná tiě , méng niú yōu ruì ān táng dùn ( zì yán yì shēng jūn zhōng lǎo nián nǎi fěn )
Manner Yunnan Black Tea Latte, Mengniu Youruian Sugar Shield (probiotic-enriched milk powder for middle-aged and elderly adults)
芯盾时代创始人孙悦荣获“2025年度吴文俊人...
xīn dùn shí dài chuàng shǐ rén sūn yuè róng huò 2 0 2 5 nián dù wú wén jùn rén . . .
Sun Yue, founder of Xindun Times, has been awarded the "2025 Wu Wenjun Award"...
...|马路狂逃画面曝光 多名警员“一字形”持盾穷追
. . . mǎ lù kuáng táo huà miàn pù guāng duō míng jǐng yuán yī zì xíng chí dùn qióng zhuī
...| The picture of the road fleeing was exposed, and a number of police officers chased after them with shields in a "zigzag"
美韩3/9自由护盾联合演习 对缩减规模有歧见
měi hán 3 9 zì yóu hù dùn lián gě yǎn xí duì suō jiǎn guī mó yǒu qí jiàn
The U.S.-South Korea 3/9 Freedom Shield joint exercise has disagreements about the scale reduction
...团队发现新物理原理 破解“通风与吸音”矛盾难题
. . . tuán duì fā xiàn xīn wù lǐ yuán lǐ pò jiě tōng fēng yǔ xī yīn máo dùn nán tí
... The team discovered new physical principles to solve the contradiction between "ventilation and sound absorption"
希望与现实之间的矛盾，因何而起？
Xīwàng yǔ xiànshí zhījiān de máodùn, yīn hé ér qǐ?
From what stems this contradiction between our hopes and our reality?
他和老板有矛盾，这个我们知道就好。
Tā hé lǎobǎn yǒu máodùn, zhège wǒmen zhīdào jiù hǎo.
Between you and me, he's in trouble with the boss.
他们有时候有矛盾冲突
Tāmen yǒushíhou yǒu máodùn chōngtū
Every now and then they clash over their differences.
我不能禁止一个人娶好几个妻子，因为这与圣经不矛盾。
Wǒ bù néng jìnzhǐ yīgèrén qǔ hǎojǐ gè qīzi, yīnwèi zhè yǔ Shèngjīng bù máodùn.
I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 盾 (dùn)?
Is 盾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 盾 with real-time feedback
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