How to Write 吨 (dūn) — Meaning “ton”

Imagine a big mouth (口) saying 'dūn' as it swallows a heavy load weighing one ton. The right part 屯 looks like a pile of bags stacked up, each weighing a ton. Visualizing a giant mouth announcing the weight of a pile helps link the meaning and sound.

吨 has 7 strokes: write 口 (left) first as a small square, then 屯 on the right with a left-falling stroke (丿) through the middle. Keep 口 compact and slightly above center; the right part 屯 is taller and wider. A common mistake is making 口 too large or writing 屯 with the vertical stroke too short.

吨 (dūn) means 'ton' and has 口 on the left and 屯 on the right. 卟 (bǔ) is a rare character meaning 'to divine' and has 口 on the right with 卜 on the left. 古 (gǔ) means 'ancient' and is simply 十 above 口. Focus on the right side: 吨's right part is 屯 (a vertical line through a mound), not 卜 or 十.

吨 is the standard unit for metric tons in Chinese, used in trade, shipping, and industry — for example, 一吨钢铁 (one ton of steel). In daily life, you might see 吨 on product labels or hear it in news reports about cargo weight. It is a HSK Level 5 word, so it appears in more formal or technical contexts rather than everyday conversation.

Common words containing 吨 include: 一吨 (yī dūn) — one ton; 吨位 (dūn wèi) — tonnage; 千吨 (qiān dūn) — thousand tons.