Meaning & readings

suddenly, immediately, in a hurry, arrange, stay in place, bow, kowtow

On’yomi トン、トツ
Kun’yomi にわか.に、とん.と、つまず.く、とみ.に、ぬかずく

Origin

The left component 屯 shows a group gathered together or bunched up, suggesting something compressed or concentrated. The right component 頁 is the radical for "head" or "person." Combined, these parts suggest a person stopping abruptly or coming to a sudden halt—when you stop suddenly, your head and body bunch up momentarily. From this image of sudden, concentrated stopping comes the meanings of "suddenly," "immediately," and "in a hurry." The character also picked up related senses like "to bow" (where the head stops at a particular angle) and "to stay in place" (the result of stopping).

頓 13 strokes

Components

  • 屯 meaning part left
  • 頁 radical right

Common words

  • 整頓 せいとん orderliness; put in order

Easily confused with

These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.

Reference

Strokes
13
Kangxi radical
181
Formation type
Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
—
Former JLPT
—
Unicode
U+09813