童 (tóng): child
童 (tóng) is a Chinese character meaning “child.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 立 (structural) and 里 (structural). It ranks #1223 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 童 a child standing 立 in the village 里. Its radical form 立 (stand) appears in many related characters such as 站 (zhàn, station), 立 (lì, to stand), 竞 (jìng, to compete).
Definitions
- child
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA child standing 立 in the village 里
Decomposition: ⿱立里 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 童 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 童
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 儿童noun | ér tóng | child | 4 |
| 童年noun | tóng nián | childhood | 4 |
| 童话noun | tóng huà | children's fairy tales | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 童子军 | tóng zǐ jūn | child soldiers |
| 孩童 | hái tóng | child |
| 幼童 | yòu tóng | young child |
| 神童 | shén tóng | child prodigy |
| 童子 | tóng zǐ | boy |
| 女童 | nǚ tóng | little girl |
| 童贞 | tóng zhēn | virginity |
| 河童 | hé tóng | kappa, a child-size humanoid water creature in Japanese folklore |
| 男童 | nán tóng | boy |
| 顽童 | wán tóng | urchin |
| 童谣 | tóng yáo | nursery rhyme |
| 童工 | tóng gōng | child labor |
| 童星 | tóng xīng | child star |
| 学童 | xué tóng | schoolchild |
| 童真 | tóng zhēn | childishness |
童 appears in 75 compound words: 47 as the first character, 35 as the last, and 19 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 童 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (9)
to recover one's youthful vigour; to become young again; to become rejuvenated in one's old age
take no offence at a child's words; a child simply says what he/she thinks
to recover one's youthful vigour; to become young again; to become rejuvenated in one's old age
Example Sentences
儿童节那天，孩子们都收到了精美的礼物。
Értóng Jié nà tiān, háizimen dōu shōu dào le jīngměi de lǐwù.
On Children's Day, all the children received exquisite gifts.
移植心脏运送遭干冰冻坏 男童苦撑2月亡
yí zhí xīn zāng yùn sòng zāo gān bīng dòng huài nán tóng kǔ chēng 2 yuè wáng
The transplanted heart was damaged by dry ice and the boy died in February
TVB视帝黄宗泽晒童年照吸引4千万人围观 6岁潮男Chok样...
T V B shì dì huáng zōng zé shài tóng nián zhào xī yǐn 4 qiān wàn rén wéi guàn 6 suì cháo nán C h o k yàng . . .
TVB TV emperor Huang Zongze posted childhood photos to attract 40 million onlookers 6-year-old trendy man Chok...
花莲鲤鱼潭9岁男童溺毙 纵管处:与地方政府共同强化管理
huā lián lǐ yú tán 9 suì nán tóng nì bì zòng guǎn chǔ : yǔ dì fāng zhèng fǔ gòng tóng qiáng huà guǎn lǐ
Hualien Liyutan 9-year-old boy drowned Longitudinal Management Office: Strengthen management with local governments
...家三口大年初一被困浙江大罗山悬崖,8岁女童体温持..
. . . jiā sān kǒu dà nián chū yī bèi kùn zhè jiāng dà luó shān xuán yá , suì nǚ tóng tī wēn chí . .
... Family of three stranded on the first day of Lunar New Year's Eve in Zhejiang Daluoshan cliffs, 8-year-old girl's body temperature hold...
逛游乐场与家人失散,5岁女童坠入路边深井大哭,男子..
guàng yóu lè chǎng yú jiā rén shī sàn , suì nǚ tóng zhuì rù lù biān shēn jǐng dà kū , nán zǐ . .
Separated from her family at a playground, the 5-year-old girl fell into a roadside well and cried, and the man...
汤姆是恋童癖患者。
Tāngmǔ shì liàntóngpǐ huànzhě.
Tom is a pedophile.
那首歌总是让我忆起童年。
Nà shǒu gē zǒngshì ràng wǒ yì qǐ tóngnián.
That song always reminds me of my childhood.
他童年时去过巴黎三次。
Tā tóngnián shí qù guo Bālí sāncì.
As a child, he went to Paris three times.
这首歌勾起了我童年的回忆。
Zhè shǒu gē gōuqǐ le wǒ tóngnián de huíyì.
This song reminds me of my childhood.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 童 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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