(): way, journey

() is a Chinese character meaning “way, journey.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1084 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, walk. Its radical form (walk) appears in many related characters such as (biān, side), (guò, to pass, past), (hái, still, return).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. way, journey

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwalk

Decomposition: ⿺辶余 (layout: surround-from-lower-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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
nounqián túprospects5
nounlǚ tújourney6
nountú jìngway6
nounyòng túuse5
adjectivecháng túlong distance5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
tú zhōngen route
zhōng túmidway
bàn tú ér fèito give up halfway (idiom)
lù tú(lit. and fig.) road
mí túto lose one's way
qián tú wú liàngto have boundless prospects
tú jīngto pass through
cháng tú bá shèlong and difficult trek
dào tīng tú shuōgossip
qí túfork in a road
wù rù qí túto take a wrong step in life (idiom)
沿yán túalong the sides of the road
cháng tú diàn huàlong-distance phone call
zhēng túlong journey
cháng tú qì chēlong-distance coach
62
Total compounds
6
As first character
53
As last character
40
As middle character

appears in 62 compound words: 6 as the first character, 53 as the last, and 40 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.

jìng
0.64861,429 co-occurrences
沿yán
0.53242,444 co-occurrences
yòng
0.507184,674 co-occurrences
zhōng
0.458239,268 co-occurrences
duǎn
0.45323,964 co-occurrences
0.43925,837 co-occurrences
jīng
0.42538,064 co-occurrences
0.40111,622 co-occurrences
0.3642,388 co-occurrences
cháng
0.36228,644 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (18)

bàntú'érfèiHSK 7+

to give up halfway through a task; to not finish what one has started

phrase
lǎomǎshítúHSK 5+

an experienced worker knows what to do; an old hand knows the ropes

phrase
mítúzhīfǎnHSK 5+

to become aware of one's errors and turn back from one's wrong path; to realize one's mistakes and correct oneself

phrase
mìng tú kǎn kěHSK 7+

to have a tough life; to meet much adversity in one's life

phrase
qián tú miǎo mángHSK 7+

not knowing what to do next; at a loose end

phrase
qián tú wèi bǔHSK 7+

hanging in the balance; the future is hard to forecast; ¿Qué serà?

phrase
qiántúwúliàngHSK 5+

to have a great future; to have boundless prospects

phrase
qióngtúmòlùHSK 5+

to be very poor or desperate; to be back to the wall

phrase
rìmùtúqióngHSK 7+

to be in a very desperate situation and close to perishing

phrase
shí tú lǎo mǎHSK 5+

lit. an old horse knows the way home (idiom); fig. in difficulty, trust an experience colleague

phrase
shìwéiwèitúHSK 7+

to view as a dangerous road; to regard as a perilous undertaking

phrase
shūtútóngguīHSK 6+

different roads lead to the same destination; all roads lead to Rome

phrase

Showing 12 of 18 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

虽然辛苦,但收获满满。

Lǚtú suīrán xīnkǔ, dàn shōuhuò mǎnmǎn.

Although the journey was hard, the gains were plentiful.

中国军网Feb 2026

我维和官兵完成朱巴到摩吉瑞地区的短巡逻和武装护卫任务

wǒ wéi hé guān bīng wán chéng zhū bā dào mó jí ruì dì qū de duǎn tú xún luó hé wǔ zhuāng hù wèi rèn wù

Our peacekeeping officers and men completed short-distance patrols and armed escort missions in the Juba-Mogiri area

美通社Feb 2026

...权协议,致力扩大拉丁美洲生物相似药的可及

. . . quán xié yì , zhì lì kuò dà lā dīng měi zhōu shēng wù xiāng sì yào de kě jí tú jìng

... Rights agreement to expand access to biosimilars in Latin America

新西兰中文先驱网Feb 2026

吓死了!新西兰航空客机在飞行中发现,挡风玻璃突然开裂!

hè sǐ le ! xīn xī lán háng kōng kè jī zài fēi háng tú zhōng fā xiàn , dǎng fēng bō lí tū rán kāi liè !

I'm scared to death! The Air New Zealand passenger plane discovered during the flight that the windshield suddenly cracked!

EttodayFeb 2026

...看见她!施工外墙必备“神秘女郎” 真实用超爆笑

. . . kàn jiàn tā ! shī gōng wài qiáng bì bèi shén mì nǚ láng zhēn shí yòng tú chāo bào xiào

... See her! The construction of exterior walls is a must-have "mystery girl" The real use is super hilarious

百度新闻Feb 2026

男子驾车返乡中,在服务区内临时下车,结果被猫锁在..

nán zǐ jià chē fǎn xiāng tú zhōng , zài fú wù ōu nèi lín shí xià chē , jié guǒ bèi māo suǒ zài . .

Man driving back to his hometown on the way, in the service area temporarily get off, the results were cat-locked in the...

Tatoeba

汤姆前无可限量。

Tāngmǔ qiántú wúkě xiàn liáng.

Tom has a brilliant future.

Tatoeba

她能忍受长旅行吗?

Tā néng rěnshòu chángtú lǚxíng ma?

Can she endure a long trip?

Tatoeba

萨米只有投降一

Sà mǐ zhǐyǒu tóuxiáng yī tú

Sami had no choice but to surrender.

Tatoeba

他寻找一切可能的逃生径。

Tā xúnzhǎo yīqiè kěnéng de táoshēng tújìng.

He looked for every possible means of escape.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 途 (tú) mean in Chinese?
途 (tú) primarily means "way, journey." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1084 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 途 and 叙?
途 (tú) and 叙 (xù) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 辶 vs 又 (same 余 component).
How many strokes does 途 have?
途 is written with 10 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 途?
The radical associated with 途 is 辶 (walk). This radical appears in many characters related to walk.
What are the components of 途?
途 is composed of: 辶 (semantic), 余 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿺辶余 with a surround-from-lower-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 途?
Common words with 途 include: 前途 (qián tú, "prospects"); 旅途 (lǚ tú, "journey"); 途径 (tú jìng, "way"); 途中 (tú zhōng, "en route"); 中途 (zhōng tú, "midway"). There are over 62 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 途 (tú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tú: 涂 (to apply (paint etc)), 凸 (to stick out), 秃 (bald (lacking hair or feathers)), 突 (sudden), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 途 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 途 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.