幢

chuáng · HSK 7

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🏯 chuáng sounds like CHWONG — a tall stone temple pillar going CHWONG as it is struck

幢 is a Buddhist stone pillar or ancient banner/streamer flown on a pole. The 巾 radical on the left means cloth or flag, tying it to the streamer sense; the right side 童 gives the chuáng sound.

幢 — person radical 亻 + 童 (child/tall)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 亻 hints at human-made structures, while 童 supplies the sound (tóng → chuáng) and the sense of something tall and upright. It originally referred to a tall pole or banner pole used in processions, then extended to mean a tall pillar and, by counting such pillars, a measure word for buildings.

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