到

Tap the pinyin to hear it

to reach; to arrive; to leave for; to go to; to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point); (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point); considerate; thoughtful; thorough

Make a writing worksheet

HSK 3.0: Level 1
Old HSK: Level 2
Strokes: 8
Radical: 刀 +6
Structure: Left–right 左右
Traditional: 到
Common rank: #417
Unicode: U+5230

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 到 is formed

Phono-semantic compound (形声字)

至 meaning “arrive” + 刂 sound ( dāo )

Components 至刂

How to remember it

arrive · Heisig RSH #680

至 until + saber

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 到

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
得到	dé dào	to get; to obtain; to receive
来到	lái dào	to arrive; to come
回到	huí dào	to return to
看到	kàn dào	to see
听到	tīng dào	to hear
找到	zhǎo dào	to find
车到山前自有路	chē dào shān qián zì yǒu lù	see 車到山前必有路\|车到山前必有路[che1 dao4 shan1 qian2 bi4 you3 lu4]
不到黄河心不死	bù dào Huáng Hé xīn bù sǐ	lit. not to stop until one reaches the Yellow River (idiom); fig. to persevere until one r…
白头到老	bái tóu dào lǎo	see 白頭偕老\|白头偕老[bai2 tou2 xie2 lao3]
一年到头	yī nián dào tóu	all year round
到不行	dào bù xíng	extremely; incredibly
土到不行	tǔ dào bù xíng	old-fashioned; extremely kitsch
得不到	dé bù dào	cannot get; cannot obtain
到头来	dào tóu lái	in the end; finally; as a result
门到门	mén dào mén	door to door
活到老，学到老	huó dào lǎo , xué dào lǎo	One is never too old to learn. (idiom)
达不到	dá bù dào	cannot achieve; cannot reach
不到长城非好汉	bù dào Cháng chéng fēi hǎo hàn	lit. until you reach the Great Wall, you're not a proper person; fig. to get over difficul…
不到	bù dào	not to arrive; not reaching; insufficient; less than
一条道走到黑	yī tiáo dào zǒu dào hēi	to stick to one's ways; to cling to one's course

Sound family

Characters sharing the sound component 刂 — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
刂 sound part	dāo	knife
劄	zhā	memo, note, official communique
氘	dāo	deuterium
剳	dá	note, memo, official communique