How to Write 豚 (tún) — Meaning “Piglet”

Imagine a piglet (豕) sitting in a small village (屯) — the right part 屯 looks like a little house with a yard. This picture helps you recall that 豚 means "piglet" and sounds like "tún."

Make sure the left radical 豕 has no extra strokes — it is written with a horizontal stroke at the top, then a left-slanting stroke, and the bottom three strokes are correctly spaced. The right part 屯 starts with a horizontal stroke, then a vertical stroke which should be straight, not curved. A common mistake is confusing the middle part of 屯 with a similar-looking component.

豚 (piglet) uses the radical 豕, while 豙 (yì — a rare character meaning "pig bristles") has 豕 with additional strokes on top, and 象 (xiàng, elephant) has a different radical and overall shape. Unlike 豚, 象 is common and means elephant, while 豙 is rarely used in modern Chinese. Visually, 豚 has a neat square shape, whereas 象 is taller with a prominent "eye" component.

豚 is not a standalone word in daily life but appears in compound words like 海豚 (dolphin) and 河豚 (pufferfish), which are animals named after their "pig-like" shapes or sounds. In classical Chinese, 豚 often meant "piglet" or was used as a humble term for one's own child. It is also seen in food contexts like 豚肉 (pork), though 猪肉 (zhū ròu) is more common.

Common words containing 豚 include: 海豚 (hǎi tún) — Dolphin; 河豚 (hé tún) — pufferfish; 豚肉 (tún ròu) — Pork.