庸 — meaning, pinyin & examples

Meanings

CC-CEDICT

yōng

1.ordinary
2.to use

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Wiktionary

1.to use; to employ
2.to need
3.contribution; merit
4.ordinary; common; (by extension) mediocre; inferior
5.how; how can it be that (used in rhetorical questions)
6.a surname

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Etymology

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *loŋ) and ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): abbreviated semantic 庚 + phonetic 同 (*lˤoŋ). Probably the original graph of 鏞／镛 (yōng) (“large bell”), formed from 庚 (gēng) plus 同 (tóng) / 用 (yòng). Originally “large bell; hollow resonant vessel”. In bronze inscriptions, 庸 is also used for “capacity; volume”, consistent with an earlier sense referring to a hollow object. “To use; to employ” is probably a later development influenced by 用 (yòng), and “ordinary; common” is later still.

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