用

Verbal: To use or operate a tool/method; to appoint, commission, or hire a person (often implying administrative placement or patronage).

Nominal: Usefulness or utility. In philosophical contexts, "function" or "application," referring to the manifestation of an inherent nature as action in the world.

Instrumental preposition: Functions as a marker of means in the construction [用 + Tool/Method] → [Main Verb], translated as "with," "by means of," or "using."

Contrast with 使 (shǐ): While both can relate to employing people, 用 focuses on the application of a resource (the person as a tool for a task), whereas 使 emphasizes causation, command, or the exercise of will.

Tang-period reading: *iòng.

In philosophical or technical texts (particularly Daoist), this glyph often exists in a binary opposition with 體 (tǐ, substance/body) or 形 (xíng, form).