How to Write 吞 (tūn) — Meaning “to swallow / to gulp”

Imagine a giant mouth (口) under the sky (天) opening wide to swallow the entire sky. This vivid picture of gulping down something huge helps you remember that 吞 means "to swallow."

Write the top part 天 first: horizontal stroke, then two downward strokes that cross, then a final horizontal stroke (4 strokes total). Then add the bottom 口 (3 strokes) centered and slightly narrower than the top. A common mistake is making the 口 too large or misaligning it with the top.

吞 has the top component 天 (sky) above 口, while 古 has a top 十 (ten) above 口, and 卟 has 口 on the left and 卜 on the right. Meanings also differ: 吞 means "to swallow," 古 means "ancient," and 卟 means "to spit out" or is a sound word.

吞 appears in common words like 吞咽 (swallowing food) and 吞下 (to swallow down). In business or politics, 吞并 means "to annex" or "to take over." A cultural note: the idiom 狼吞虎咽 (láng tūn hǔ yàn, "wolf down tiger swallow") describes eating very quickly and greedily, using 吞 for the idea of gulping.

Common words containing 吞 include: 吞咽 (tūn yàn) — to swallow / deglutition; 吞下 (tūn xià) — to swallow down; 慢吞吞 (màn tūn tūn) — very slow; sluggishly.