ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

same / together

tóng
6 strokes · 冂 frame + 一 + 口 — many mouths under one cover, speaking as one · HSK 1

Where 同 comes from

同 gathers a mouth 口 under a covering frame — everyone under one roof saying the same thing. Sameness as chorus: the character has meant 'together, alike' since the bronze inscriptions.

同 in Chinese culture

同 builds belonging: 同学 (classmate — 'same-study', with 学), 同事 (colleague — 'same-work'), 同意 (to agree — 'same-mind'). Address a stranger's group as 同学们 and you've made a room of allies. The grand old ideal 大同 — 'Great Unity' — is Confucius's utopia where the world is shared by all; it still names streets and districts across China.

Example

同学 tóngxué — classmate

他是我的同学。
Tā shì wǒ de tóngxué.
He is my classmate.

How to remember it

One frame, one voice from every mouth 口 — the SAME, TOGETHER.

大同 (Great Unity), Confucius's utopia, names a major city in Shanxi — you can buy a train ticket to Utopia.

Same sound, different tones

2nd tóng
same
3rd tǒng
bucket
4th tòng
pain

Words unlocked by 同

同学 tóngxué
classmate
同意 tóngyì
to agree
一同 yìtóng
together
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