墩 (dūn): block, gate pillar

墩 (dūn) is a Chinese character meaning “block.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 土 (semantic) and 敦 (phonetic). It ranks #3227 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 墩 earth. Its radical form 土 (earth) appears in many related characters such as 土 (tǔ, earth, soil), 地 (dì, earth, ground), 场 (chǎng, field, place).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. block
  2. gate pillar

Etymology & Origin

墩

pictophoneticearth

Decomposition: ⿰土敦 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Practice writing 墩 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
桥墩nounqiáo dūnbridge pier
墩子noundūn zisquat block (of stone, wood etc)
墩布noundūn bùswab
胖墩墩adjectivepàng dūn dūnshort and stout
菜墩子nouncài dūn zichopping block
门墩nounmén dūnwooden or stone block supporting the axle of a door
坐墩zuò dūnChinese drum-shaped stool
胖墩儿pàng dūn r(coll.) short, fat person (esp. a kid)
屁墩儿pì dūn r(dialect) a fall on the buttocks
冰墩墩bīng dūn dūnBing Dwen Dwen (mascot of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, a panda wearing a bodysuit of transparent ice)
肥墩墩féi dūn dūnexceedingly obese
矮墩墩adjectiveǎi dūn dūnpudgy
绣墩xiù dūnsee 坐墩
拱墩gǒng dūnpillar of a vault
14
Total compounds
14
As first character
36
As last character
50
As middle character

墩 appears in 14 compound words: 14 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 50 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这座古墩已经有两千多年的历史了。

zhè zuò gǔ dūn yǐ jīng yǒu liǎng qiān duō nián de lì shǐ le .

This ancient mound is over two thousand years old.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

掇绣又名墩绣,是中国的特色绣种,其绣法独特、绣线粗密,成品鲜艳饱满、立体感强。

掇 xiù yòu míng dūn xiù , shì zhōng guó de tè sè xiù zhǒng , qí xiù fǎ dú tè , xiù xiàn cū mì , chéng pǐn xiān yàn bǎo mǎn , lì tǐ gǎn qiáng .

Duo embroidery, also known as Dun embroidery, is a distinctive Chinese embroidery style characterized by its unique technique and thick, dense stitches, resulting in finished pieces that are vibrant, rich in color, and have a strong three-dimensional effect.

少数派Sep 2026

他脚下的石墩其实是船头造型,这个角度看不明显,想必是他的致远号。

tā jiǎo xià de shí dūn qí shí shì chuán tóu zào xíng , zhè gè jiǎo dù kàn bù míng xiǎn , xiǎng bì shì tā de zhì yuǎn hào .

The stone pedestal at his feet is actually shaped like a ship’s bow—it’s not very obvious from this angle—so I suppose it’s his Zhi Yuan.

The Beijing NewsApr 2026

揭秘 | 南航“墩苗计划”已培养1375名飞行员副驾驶

jiē mì nán háng dūn miáo jì huá yǐ péi yǎng 1 3 7 5 míng fēi háng yuán fù jià shǐ

Exclusive | China Southern Airlines’ “Talent Nurturing Program” Has Trained 1,375 First Officers

Orientaldaily MyMar 2026

摩哆失控撞洋灰墩 兄弟一重一轻伤送院

mó duō shī kòng zhuàng yáng huī dūn xiōng dì yī chóng yī qīng shāng sòng yuàn

Motorcycle loses control and crashes into concrete barrier; two brothers hospitalized, one with serious injuries and the other with minor injuries

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...1岁成龙内地宣传新戏 热情锡爆细路女面珠墩双手摸脸:龙之吻

. . . 1 suì chéng lóng nèi dì xuān chuán xīn xì rè qíng xī bào xì lù nǚ miàn zhū dūn shuāng shǒu mō liǎn : lóng zhī wěn

...1-year-old Jackie Chan promotes his new film in mainland China; he showers the little girl with affection, touching her chubby cheeks with both hands: "The Dragon's Kiss"

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced dūn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 墩 (dūn) mean in Chinese?
墩 (dūn) primarily means "block." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3227 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 墩 have?
墩 is written with 15 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 墩?
The radical associated with 墩 is 土 (earth). This radical appears in many characters related to earth.
What are the components of 墩?
墩 is composed of: 土 (semantic), 敦 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰土敦 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 墩?
Common words with 墩 include: 桥墩 (qiáo dūn, "bridge pier"); 墩子 (dūn zi, "squat block (of stone, wood etc)"); 墩布 (dūn bù, "swab"); 胖墩墩 (pàng dūn dūn, "short and stout"); 菜墩子 (cài dūn zi, "chopping block"). There are over 14 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 墩 (dūn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dūn: 蹲 (to crouch). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 墩 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 墩 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 墩 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.