(tǒng): bucket, (trash) can, barrel (of oil etc)

(tǒng) is a Chinese character meaning “bucket.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2334 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, wood. Its radical form (tree) appears in many related characters such as (běn, (bound form) root), (, machine, opportunity), (tiáo, strip).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. bucket
  2. (trash) can
  3. barrel (of oil etc)

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwood

Decomposition: ⿰木甬 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
mǎ tǒngchamber pot
lā jī tǒngrubbish bin
fàn tǒngrice tub (from which cooked rice or other food is served)
shuǐ tǒngbucket
mù tǒngcask
chōu shuǐ mǎ tǒngflush toilet
便biàn tǒngchamber pot
gū tǒng jiàngcooper
dì yī tǒng jīnthe first pot of gold
tǒng zhuāng shuǐ18.9 liter bottled water (5 gallons)
bàn tǒng shuǐ(coll.) (of one's skills, knowledge etc) limited
mǎ tǒng bá zitoilet plunger
dà tǒngbarrel
mǎ tǒng chuāi zitoilet plunger
tǒng kǒubunghole
23
Total compounds
13
As first character
57
As last character
30
As middle character

appears in 23 compound words: 13 as the first character, 57 as the last, and 30 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

dié
0.74410 co-occurrences
0.6434,932 co-occurrences
0.6434,896 co-occurrences
xiàng
0.483942 co-occurrences
yóu
0.4413,060 co-occurrences
xiá
0.438450 co-occurrences
zhù
0.430168 co-occurrences
0.4203,990 co-occurrences
āo
0.416138 co-occurrences
jiǔ
0.4102,388 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

chōushuǐ mǎtǒngHSK 5+

flush toilet

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这片森里生活着许多珍稀的野生动物。

zhè piān sēn tǒng lǐ shēng huó zhe xǔ duō zhēn xī de yě shēng dòng wù .

This forest is home to many rare and endangered wildlife species.

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Feb 2026

...C+拟4月恢复小幅增产 每日增13.7万原油

. . . C nǐ 4 yuè huī fù xiǎo fú zēng chǎn měi rì zēng 1 3 . 7 wàn tǒng yuán yóu

... C+ plans to resume a slight increase in production in April, increasing by 137,000 barrels of crude oil per day

三立新聞網Feb 2026

台北101风水池民众提装 贾永婕急喊话

tái běi 1 0 1 fēng shuǐ chí mín zhòng tí tǒng zhuāng gǔ yǒng 婕 jí hǎn huà

Taipei 101 Feng Shui Pool People carry buckets Jia Yongjie shouted urgently

Hk01.comFeb 2026

牛池湾纪律部队宿舍失火 近天台后楼梯垃圾焚毁

niú chí wān jì lǜ bù duì sù shě shī huǒ jìn tiān tái hòu lóu tī lā jī tǒng fén huǐ

A fire broke out in the Niu Chi Wan Disciplined Forces dormitory and burned the trash can on the back stairs near the roof

百度新闻Feb 2026

...艺谋回应在电影《惊蛰无声》中“间谍在垃圾交接手..

. . . yì móu huí yīng zài diàn yǐng jīng 蛰 wú shēng zhōng jiān dié zài lā jī tǒng jiāo jiē shǒu . .

... Yimou responded in the movie "Silent Insting", "The spy takes over in the trash can:

百度新闻Feb 2026

...律宾海警在我南沙群岛附近海域扔下两个黑色状物,..

. . . lǜ bīn hǎi jǐng zài wǒ nán shā qún dǎo fù jìn hǎi yù rēng xià liǎng gè hēi sè tǒng zhuàng wù , . .

... The Lubin Coast Guard dropped two black barrels in the waters near the Spratly Islands,..

Tatoeba

有带马和淋浴的房间吗?

Yǒu dài mǎtǒng hé línyù de fángjiān ma?

Do you have any rooms with a shower and toilet?

Tatoeba

如果我的大脑在大里,我就不会写这个了。

Rúguǒ wǒ de dànǎo zài dàtǒng lǐ, wǒ jiù bù huì xiě zhège le.

If I were a brain in a vat, I wouldn't write this.

Tatoeba

我在子里装满了水。

Wǒ zài tǒng zǐ lǐ zhuāngmǎn le shuǐ.

I filled the bucket with water.

Tatoeba

我将水倒入了中。

Wǒ jiāng shuǐ dào rù le tǒng zhōng.

I poured water into the bucket.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced tǒng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 桶 (tǒng) mean in Chinese?
桶 (tǒng) primarily means "bucket." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #2334 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 桶 and 勇?
桶 (tǒng) and 勇 (yǒng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 力 (same 甬 component).
How many strokes does 桶 have?
桶 is written with 11 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 桶?
The radical associated with 桶 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 桶?
桶 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 甬 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木甬 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 桶?
Common words with 桶 include: 马桶 (mǎ tǒng, "chamber pot"); 垃圾桶 (lā jī tǒng, "rubbish bin"); 饭桶 (fàn tǒng, "rice tub (from which cooked rice or other food is served)"); 水桶 (shuǐ tǒng, "bucket"); 木桶 (mù tǒng, "cask"). There are over 23 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 桶 (tǒng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tǒng: 通 (through, to communicate), 捅 (to poke), 痛 (pain), 同 (like), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 桶 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 桶 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.