汤 meaning and stroke order
Soup; hot or boiling water; decoction of medicinal herbs
How to write 汤, stroke by stroke
6 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
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Meaning of 汤
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- soup
- hot or boiling water
- decoction of medicinal herbs
- water in which sth has been boiled
- rushing current
How 汤 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Water.
氵 gives the meaning and 昜 hints at the sound.
Radical: 氵 (water), shared by 467 characters on this site.
How to remember 汤
The water radical 氵 on the left tells you the meaning, and the right part is the simplified form of 昜 (yáng), which gives the sound. Picture a pot of water steaming on the stove, ready to become soup.
汤 (tāng) is the everyday word for soup or broth, and it appears in many dish names like 鸡汤 (jītāng) and 肉汤 (ròutāng). It can also mean a herbal medicine decoction or, in older usage, hot water. Example: 我想喝一碗汤。(Wǒ xiǎng hē yì wǎn tāng.) I want to have a bowl of soup.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 汤 with 场 (chǎng, field or place) and 杨 (yáng, poplar), which share the same right side but have different radicals. Also remember that in Chinese you 喝汤 (hē tāng, drink soup), not 吃汤 (eat soup).
Common words with 汤
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 汤圆 | tāngyuán | boiled or deep-fried balls of glutinous rice flour, usually eaten during Lantern Festival | HSK 7-9 |
| 泡汤 | pàotāng | (coll.) to fizzle out; to come to nothing; to dawdle; to stall | |
| 汤匙 | tāngchí | soup spoon; tablespoon | |
| 鸡汤 | jītāng | chicken stock; chicken soup | |
| 赴汤蹈火 | fùtāngdǎohuǒ | lit. to jump into scalding water and plunge into raging fire (idiom); fig. to brave any da | |
| 肉汤 | ròutāng | meat soup; broth | |
| 浓汤 | nóngtāng | thick soup; puree |
汤 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 汤
Learning 汤 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 汤
How many strokes are in 汤?
汤 is written with 6 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 汤 mean?
汤 (tāng) means soup; hot or boiling water; decoction of medicinal herbs. A common word with it is 汤圆 (tāngyuán), meaning "boiled or deep-fried balls of glutinous rice flour, usually eaten during Lantern Festival".
How do you pronounce 汤?
汤 is pronounced tāng, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 汤?
The radical of 汤 is 氵, which carries the idea of "water". Dictionaries list 汤 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 汤?
The traditional form of 汤 is 湯. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 汤 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 汤 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 汤 is part of the HSK 3 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 2.
What does 泡汤 (pàotāng) mean if it is not about soup?
泡汤 is a colloquial expression meaning a plan fell through or came to nothing. For example, 下雨了，我们的野餐泡汤了。(Xià yǔ le, wǒmen de yěcān pàotāng le.) It rained, so our picnic fell through.
Does 汤 have any pronunciation other than tāng?
Yes, it can be read shāng in the rare literary sense of a rushing current, as in classical texts. In modern everyday Chinese you will almost always say tāng.