Meaning
lax; yielding; unhurried; from; obey; observe
Chinese: 跟随、从某处或从某时开始。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “cong” becomes a different word in each tone. 从 is the 1st tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 从小cóng xiǎofrom childhood; from a young age
- 从来cóng láialways; at all times; never (if used in negative sentence)
- 自从zì cóngsince (a time); ever since
- 从事cóng shìto go for; to engage in; to undertake; to deal with
- 从前cóng qiánpreviously; formerly; once upon a time
Example Sentence
他从早到晚都在工作。Tā cóng zǎo dào wǎn dōu zài gōng zuò.He works from morning to night.
他Tāhe从早到晚cóng zǎo dào wǎnfrom morning till night都dōuall在zàiat工作gōng zuòto work。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
Two people (人), one walking behind the other: the rear follows the front. It means ‘to follow / from’. Simplified from 從.
A way to remember it
One person trailing another — to follow.
Easy to confuse with
- 众‘Crowd’: three people instead of two.