Meaning & readings
traffic, pass through, avenue, commute, counter for letters, notes, documents, etc.
Origin
The character 通 combines the radical for movement or going (⻌, which appears in words related to walking and travel) with the component 甬, which serves as a sound hint for the pronunciation. Originally, the character was formed to express the concept of passing through or moving from one place to another. The movement radical gives it the sense of motion and flow, while 甬 provides a phonetic clue to guide pronunciation. Over time, this meaning expanded to include traffic, commuting, and the general idea of passage or communication.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 甬
- ⻌
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
- 一通 いっつう one copy (of a document); one letter
- 開通 かいつう opening (of a new road, railway, etc.); going into operation (e.g. telephone communication)
- 貫通 かんつう passing through (of a tunnel, bullet, etc.); going (right) through
- 共通 きょうつう common; shared
- 交通 こうつう traffic; transportation
- 精通 せいつう being well versed (in); being well acquainted (with)
- 疎通 そつう (mutual) understanding; communication
- 直通 ちょくつう direct line; direct communication
Reference
- Strokes
- 10
- Kangxi radical
- 162
- Grade
- Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #80 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+0901A