hutong
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hutong
- /ˈhuːtɒŋ/ UK
- /-tʊŋ/ UK
- /ˈhuˈtɑŋ/ US
- /-tʊŋ/ US
Where it comes from
Borrowed from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 衚衕 /胡同 (hútòng), 胡同 (hútòng, “narrow street”), probably:
* from Mongolian гудам (gudam), from Middle Mongol ᠭᠤᠳᠤᠮ (ɣudum, “corridor, passage, passageway”); or
* from Mongolian худаг (xudag), ᠬᠤᠳᠳᠤᠭ (qudduɣ, “water well”) (from the prevalence of wells where people lived).
noun hutongs · hutong · hutung
- A narrow alley or street in a traditional residential district of a city in China, especially Beijing. The fish-bone-like transportation network is also present, especially in large neighbourhoods, where a series of major hutong (usually running east-west) are either joined by smaller transverse hutong or lead to even smaller dead-end hutong that occasionally run between housing plots.
Translations
Talk about this word "hutong." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/hutong. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. hutong. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/hutong "hutong." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/hutong.Cite this
@misc{hutong_2026,
title = {hutong},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hutong},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
