(tǒng): tube, cylinder, to encase in sth cylindrical (such as hands in sleeves etc)

(tǒng) is a Chinese character meaning “tube.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2052 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, bamboo. Its radical form (bamboo) appears in many related characters such as (xiào, to laugh), (, (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六[di4 liu4] "sixth")), (děng, to wait for).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. tube
  2. cylinder
  3. to encase in sth cylindrical (such as hands in sleeves etc)

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticbamboo

Decomposition: ⿱⺮同 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounhuà tǒngmicrophone6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shǒu diàn tǒngflashlight
huǒ jiàn tǒngbazooka
diàn tǒngflashlight
tīng tǒngtelephone receiver
yóu tǒngmailbox
yuán tǒngcircular cylinder
chū qì tǒng(metaphorical) punching bag
wàn huā tǒngkaleidoscope
gǔn tǒngroller
zhú tǒngbamboo tube
tǒng zitube-shaped object
qì tǒnginflator
bǐ tǒngpen container
tào tǒngsleeve
chuán shēng tǒngloudhailer
43
Total compounds
12
As first character
65
As last character
23
As middle character

appears in 43 compound words: 12 as the first character, 65 as the last, and 23 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.

tào
0.5337,746 co-occurrences
jǐng
0.4977,488 co-occurrences
jiàn
0.4903,720 co-occurrences
zhì
0.480576 co-occurrences
gǔn
0.4721,116 co-occurrences
méng
0.4701,380 co-occurrences
yuán
0.4682,532 co-occurrences
xuē
0.459636 co-occurrences
0.4361,938 co-occurrences
0.422180 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo tǒng zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "筒" correctly, you need to master the proper stroke order.

TvbsMar 2026

影音/“蛇”么东西!民众急开手电顾蛇 捕蛇人到场扑空了

yǐng yīn shé má dōng xī ! mín zhòng jí kāi shǒu diàn tǒng gù shé bǔ shé rén dào chǎng pū kōng le

Video/"What on earth is that snake?!" People frantically shone flashlights at the snake, but the snake catcher arrived to find nothing there.

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Mar 2026

河北一场演出中歌手遭观众辱骂后用话打人

hé běi yī chǎng yǎn chū zhōng gē shǒu zāo guàn zhòng rǔ mà hòu yòng huà tǒng dǎ rén

At a concert in Hebei, a singer struck a member of the audience with a microphone after being verbally abused

Am730Mar 2026

头发|冇染发但头发变枯黄开岔?恐用风常洗头习惯出事!医生揭4习惯超伤发

tóu fā 冇 rǎn fā dàn tóu fā biàn kū huáng kāi chà ? kǒng yòng fēng tǒng cháng xǐ tóu xí guàn chū shì ! yī shēng jiē 4 xí guàn chāo shāng fā

Hair | Hair Turning Dry, Dull, and Split-Ended Without Dyeing? Your Habits of Frequent Hair Washing and Blow-Drying Might Be to Blame! Doctors Reveal 4 Habits That Are Extremely Damaging to Your Hair

LtnMar 2026

徐若瑄51岁生日收惊喜!10岁儿掏存钱“买戒指送妈妈”

xú ruò 瑄 5 1 suì shēng rì shōu jīng xǐ ! 1 0 suì ér tāo cún qián tǒng mǎi jiè zhǐ sòng mā mā

Vicky Hsu Receives a Surprise on Her 51st Birthday! Her 10-Year-Old Son Empties His Piggy Bank to "Buy a Ring for Mom"

EttodayFeb 2026

台南山上花园水道博物馆“水语森林”“唧象” 成走春新地标

tái nán shān shàng huā yuán shuǐ dào bó wù guǎn shuǐ yǔ sēn lín 唧 tǒng xiàng chéng zǒu chūn xīn dì biāo

Tainan Mountain Garden Waterway Museum "Water Language Forest" and "Tube Elephant" have become new landmarks for spring walking

Tatoeba

珍想要一个冰淇淋甜

Zhēn xiǎngyào yī gè bīngqílín tiántǒng.

Jane wanted an ice cream cone.

Tatoeba

我把听放到了耳边。

Wǒ bǎ tīngtǒng fàng dào le ěr biān.

I put the receiver to my ear.

Tatoeba

没有手电的话,你啥都看不到。

Méiyǒu shǒudiàntǒng dehuà, nǐ shá dōu kàn bù dào.

You won't see a thing without a torch.

Tatoeba

汤姆给了玛丽一把手电

Tāngmǔ gěi le Mǎlì yī bǎ shǒudiàntǒng.

Tom gave Mary a flashlight.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced tǒng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 筒 (tǒng) mean in Chinese?
筒 (tǒng) primarily means "tube." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2052 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 筒 and 洞?
筒 (tǒng) and 洞 (dòng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 竹 vs 氵 (same 同 component).
How many strokes does 筒 have?
筒 is written with 12 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 筒?
The radical associated with 筒 is 竹 (bamboo). This radical appears in many characters related to bamboo.
What are the components of 筒?
筒 is composed of: ⺮ (semantic), 同 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱⺮同 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 筒?
Common words with 筒 include: 话筒 (huà tǒng, "microphone"); 手电筒 (shǒu diàn tǒng, "flashlight"); 火箭筒 (huǒ jiàn tǒng, "bazooka"); 电筒 (diàn tǒng, "flashlight"); 听筒 (tīng tǒng, "telephone receiver"). There are over 43 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 筒 (tǒng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tǒng: 铜 (copper), 通 (through, to communicate), 同 (like), 童 (child), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 筒 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 筒 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.