吞 (tūn): to swallow, to take
吞 (tūn) is a Chinese character meaning “to swallow.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 天 (phonetic) and 口 (semantic). It ranks #1780 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 吞 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).
Definitions
- to swallow
- to take
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 吞 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 吞噬verb | tūn shì | to swallow |
| 生吞活剥phrase | shēng tūn huó bō | to swallow whole (idiom) |
| 独吞verb | dú tūn | to hog |
| 狼吞虎咽phrase | láng tūn hǔ yàn | to wolf down one's food (idiom) |
| 吞并verb | tūn bìng | to annex |
| 忍气吞声phrase | rěn qì tūn shēng | to submit to humiliation (idiom) |
| 吞没verb | tūn mò | to embezzle |
| 吞食verb | tūn shí | to devour |
| 吞咽verb | tūn yàn | to swallow |
| 慢吞吞adjective | màn tūn tūn | very slow |
| 吞吞吐吐verb | tūn tūn tǔ tǔ | to hum and haw (idiom) |
| 侵吞verb | qīn tūn | to annex |
| 慢慢吞吞 | màn man tūn tūn | very slow |
| 吞云吐雾verb | tūn yún tǔ wù | to swallow clouds and blow out fog (idiom) |
| 吞服verb | tūn fú | to swallow |
吞 appears in 43 compound words: 51 as the first character, 16 as the last, and 33 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 吞 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (12)
to seize another country's territory by piecemeal encroachment or wholesale annexation
to silently eat humble pie; to suppress anger and quietly bear humiliation
to skin and eat … alive; to apply uncritically; to use without real understanding
to mutter and mumble; to hum and haw; to stumble over one's words; to speak in a halting way
a state of mediation where a person no longer requires food; to smoke (cigarettes, or other drugs)
to silently eat humble pie; to suppress anger and quietly bear humiliation
to mutter and mumble; to hum and haw; to stumble over one's words; to speak in a halting way
a state of mediation where a person no longer requires food; to smoke (cigarettes, or other drugs)
to skin and eat … alive; to apply uncritically; to use without real understanding
Example Sentences
他吞干舌燥地讲了两个小时，终于说服了大家。
tā tūn gān jī zào dì jiǎng le liǎng gě xiǎo shí , zhōng yú shuō fú le dà jiā .
He talked for two hours, his mouth dry, and finally managed to convince everyone.
男公园练投篮“球滚路中”害雷残 索国赔吞败
nán gōng yuán liàn tóu lán qiú gǔn lù zhōng hài léi cán suǒ guó péi tūn bài
Men's park practice shooting "ball rolling in the road" harms thunder and damages the country to compensate for defeat
...技术 2030年晶片产量激增五成 台积电吞大力丸
. . . jì shù 2 0 3 0 nián jīng piàn chǎn liàng jī zēng wǔ chéng tái jī diàn tūn dà lì wán
... Technology Chip production will surge by 50% in 2030 TSMC swallows Dali Pills
再创新高 哈尔滨机场单日旅客吞吐量101608人次
zài chuàng xīn gāo hā ěr bīn jī chǎng dān rì lǚ kè tūn tǔ liàng 1 0 1 6 0 8 rén cì
Harbin Airport handled 101608 passengers in a single day
以色列加速扩大西岸屯垦 18国批实质并吞
yǐ sè liè jiā sù kuò dà xī àn tún kěn 1 8 guó pī shí zhì bìng tūn
Israel accelerated the expansion of reclamation in the West Bank and approved the substantive annexation of 18 countries
食八宝饭误吞枣核 62岁翁肚大如孕妇
shí bā bǎo fàn wù tūn zǎo hé 6 2 suì wēng dù dà rú yùn fù
Eating eight treasure rice and mistakenly swallowing jujube kernels, the 62-year-old man's belly is as big as a pregnant woman
别狼吞虎咽的。你最好细嚼慢咽地吃。
Bié lángtūnhǔyàn de. nǐ zuì hǎo xìjiáomànyàn de chī.
Stop inhaling your food. You should eat a little slower.
食物在吞咽前要经过咀嚼。
Shíwù zài tūnyàn qián yào jīngguò jǔjué.
Food should be chewed before being swallowed.
他狼吞虎咽地吃了一顿。
Tā lángtūn-hǔyàn de chī le yī dùn.
He devoured his meal.
快点快点，你还慢吞吞的话我们就要迟到了。
Kuàidiǎn kuàidiǎn, nǐ hái màntūntūn dehuà wǒmen jiùyào chídào le.
Come on, we'll be late if you don't hurry up.
Character Family
Homophones — Characters pronounced tūn
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 吞 (tūn) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 吞 and 蚕?
How many strokes does 吞 have?
What is the radical of 吞?
What are the components of 吞?
What are common words containing 吞?
What characters sound the same as 吞 (tūn)?
Is 吞 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 吞 with real-time feedback
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