How to Write 砼 (tóng) — Meaning “Concrete”

Think of 砼 as "person (人) works (工) to make stone (石)" — that is, concrete is man-made stone. The three parts together tell the story: people work with stone materials to create concrete.

Write the left part 石 first (stokes: 横, 撇, 竖, 横折, 横), then the right part 仝 (stokes: 撇, 捺, 横, 竖, 横). A common mistake is making the right part too wide or forgetting that 仝 has a 人 on top and 工 below, not a single component.

砼 (tóng) means concrete and has the right side 仝 (person + work). 矸 (gān) means waste rock and has 干 (gān, dry) on the right. 矻 (kū) means to toil and has 乞 (kū, beg) on the right. Visually, the right parts are clearly different: 仝, 干, and 乞.

砼 is a technical character used mainly in engineering and construction, such as in 砼结构 (concrete structure) and 砼路面 (concrete pavement). It was invented in the 1950s as a simplified shorthand for 混凝土 (hùnníngtǔ, concrete) and is rarely seen in everyday writing but common in industry.

Common words containing 砼 include: 砼结构 (tóng jié gòu) — Concrete structure; 砼路面 (tóng lù miàn) — Concrete pavement; 砼搅拌 (tóng jiǎo bàn) — Concrete mixing.