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用途 (yòng tú) — use, application

Definition

用途 (yòng tú) is the purpose or intended use of something. Unlike 用法 ('how to use it'), 用途 answers 'what is it for'; 用处 is more colloquial and emphasizes usefulness.

noun
useapplication

Examples

  • 用途。
    Zhè zhǒng gōng jù yǒu hěn duō yòng tú.
    This kind of tool has many uses.
  • 用途？
    Nǐ zhī dào zhè ge jī qì de yòng tú ma?
    Do you know the use of this machine?
  • 用途。
    Zhè běn shū de yòng tú shì bāng zhù xué xí hàn yǔ.
    The use of this book is to help learn Chinese.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

用yònguse
途túpath

用 gives the sense of using, and 途 a path or way; together they mean the way something is used.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

用 was formed by adding a handle to an earlier form.

Open 用 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
辶Written in full as辵chuò
Sound part声符shēngfú
余
余yú途
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

途 is made from 辶 (written fully as 辵), a walking part, and 余, which gives the sound.

Open 途 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 5Abstract Concepts

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