道
Tap the pinyin to hear it
road; path (CL:條|条[tiao2],股[gu3]); (bound form) way; reason; principle; (bound form) a skill; an art; a specialization; (Daoism) the Way; the Dao; to say (introducing a direct quotation, as in a novel); (bound form) to express; to extend (polite words); classifier for long thin things (rivers, cracks, shadows etc), barriers (walls, doors etc), questions (in an exam etc), commands, courses in a meal, steps in a process; (old) circuit (administrative division)
- HSK 3.0
- Level 1
- Old HSK
- Level 2
- Strokes
- 12
- Radical
- 辵 +9
- Structure
- Lower-left enclosure 左下包
- Traditional
- 道
- Common rank
- #67
- Unicode
- U+9053
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How to remember it
way · Heisig RSH #287
首 heads + road
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 道
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 知道 | to know; to become aware of; also pr. [zhi1dao5] | |
| 不人道 | inhuman | |
| 不儿道 | (dialect) contracted form of 不知道[bu4 zhi1 dao4] | |
| 道山学海 | mountain of Dao, sea of learning (idiom); learning is as high as the mountains, as wide as… | |
| 大道 | main street; avenue | |
| 人道 | human sympathy; humanitarianism; humane; the "human way", one of the stages in the cycle o… | |
| 道人 | Taoist devotee (honorific) | |
| 道县 | Dao County or Daoxian, a county in Yongzhou City 永州市[Yong3 zhou1 Shi4], Hunan | |
| 人行道 | sidewalk | |
| 行人道 | (dialect) sidewalk | |
| 一道 | together | |
| 国道 | national highway | |
| 水道 | watercourse (river, canal, drain etc); water route; lane (in a swimming pool) | |
| 天公地道 | absolutely fair and reasonable (idiom); equitable | |
| 头道 | first time; first (round, course, coat of paint etc) | |
| 心道 | (literary) to think to oneself | |
| 道学 | Confucian study of ethics; study of Daoism; school for Daoism in Tang and Song times; Daoi… | |
| 地道 | tunnel; causeway | |
| 地道 | authentic; genuine; proper | |
| 无道 | tyrannical; brutal (regime) |
Examples & usage
Real sentences with 道 — read them aloud, then paste your own into the converter.
-
你知道这条路怎么走吗？
Nǐ zhīdào zhè tiáo lù zěnme zǒu ma?
Do you know how to get there by this road?
-
请上一道招牌菜。
Qǐng shàng yí dào zhāopái cài.
Please bring one of your signature dishes.
Usage tip: 道 三个常见身份：道路 (road)、知道 (to know)、菜的量词（一道菜 = one dish/course）。