从
Tap the pinyin to hear it
from; through; via; (bound form) to follow; (bound form) to obey; (bound form) to engage in (an activity); (used before a negative) ever; (bound form) (Taiwan pr. [zong4]) retainer; attendant; (bound form) (Taiwan pr. [zong4]) assistant; auxiliary; subordinate; (bound form) (Taiwan pr. [zong4]) related by common paternal grandfather or earlier ancestor
- HSK 3.0
- Level 1
- Old HSK
- Level 2
- Strokes
- 4
- Radical
- 人 +2
- Structure
- Left–right 左右
- Traditional
- 从
- Common rank
- #656
- Unicode
- U+4ECE
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How to remember it
follow · Heisig RSH #846
人 person — as a component also called: assembly line
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 从
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 力不从心 | (idiom) to lack the ability to do what one would wish | |
| 无从下手 | not know where to start | |
| 名从主人 | (idiom) to refer to sth by the name its owners use; to refer to a place by the name its in… | |
| 太阳从西边出来 | lit. the sun rises in the west (idiom); fig. hell freezes over; pigs can fly | |
| 从化区 | Conghua, a district of Guangzhou City 廣州市|广州市[Guang3 zhou1 Shi4], Guangdong | |
| 三从四德 | Confucian moral injunctions for women, namely: obey in turn three men father, husband and … | |
| 从业人员 | employee; person employed in a trade or profession | |
| 病从口入 | Illness enters by the mouth (idiom). Mind what you eat!; fig. A loose tongue may cause a l… | |
| 从来不 | never | |
| 从江县 | Congjiang, a county in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture 黔東南苗族侗族自治州|黔东南苗族侗族自… | |
| 一部二十四史，不知从何说起 | It's a long and intricate story, I hardly know where to start. | |
| 从里到外 | from the inside to the outside; through and through; thoroughly | |
| 从业者 | people in the (aforementioned) industry; practitioner; industry professional | |
| 从不 | never | |
| 从子 | paternal uncle's son; nephew | |
| 从头到尾 | from start to finish; from head to tail; the whole (thing) | |
| 人从 | retinue; hangers-on | |
| 从头 | anew; from the start | |
| 从中 | from among them; from it | |
| 从头到脚 | from head to foot |
Sound family
These characters use 从 as their sound component — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 从 sound part | from, by, since, whence, through | |
| 纵 | to indulge in, to give free reign to | |
| 丛 | bush, shrub; thicket; collection | |
| 耸 | to excite, to urge; to raise; to shrug; lofty, towering | |
| 枞 | fir tree | |
| 怂 | to arouse, to incite, to instigate | |
| 疭 | clonic convulsions | |
| 苁 | a medicinal herb; Boschniakia glabra |