用
contributes the sense of using or applying something · Kangxi radical 101
contributes the sense of using or applying something, and very often just supplies the sound yong in characters built on it
The original picture is genuinely unclear — the old graph has been read as a wooden pail or bucket, as a fence panel of slats, and as a set of cracked oracle bones, with no reading clearly winning. What survives in the modern form is a tall rectangle divided by one vertical stroke down the middle and crossed by two horizontals, which does look like a slatted container or a bit of paling. In many characters it is working for its sound rather than its meaning: 甬 (yǒng) is 用 with a mark on top, and that in turn gives 拥, 痈 and 佣 their pronunciation, while 庸 packs 用 under a roof. Watch out for lookalikes — the boxy part of 角 is really the drawing of a horn, not 用 at all, and 甫 and 甪 only overlap with it by accident of later simplifying.
用 at a glance
- Meaning
- contributes the sense of using or applying something
- Strokes
- 5
- Characters
- 10
- Role
- Usually contributes sound
- Kangxi radical
- 101
Characters with 用 (9 of 10)
HSK 3 · 1
Frequently asked questions
What does the component 用 mean?
用 means "contributes the sense of using or applying something". In the characters that contain it, it usually contributes sound.
How many Chinese characters contain 用?
10 characters in this dictionary contain 用, including ones at HSK 3, HSK 5, HSK 6.
Is 用 a radical?
Yes — 用 is Kangxi radical 101, one of the 214 traditional indexing radicals used to organise Chinese dictionaries.
How many strokes does 用 have?
用 is written in 5 strokes.