Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character

道 (radical 162 辵+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 卜廿竹山 (YTHU), four-corner 3830₆, composition ⿺辶首)

Derived characters

• 導

References

• KangXi: page 1262, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 39010
• Dae Jaweon: page 1754, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 6, page 3864, character 1
• Unihan data for U+9053

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 道
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *l'uːʔ) : semantic 辵 ‎(“walking”) + phonetic 𩠐. Simplified to 辶 + 首.

Etymology

Possibly derived from 導 (OC *duːs, “to go along, to bring along, to conduct”):

• > "to explain" > "to talk about", and
• > "road, way".

Cognate with Proto-Hmong-Mien *kləuX ‎(“road, way”) (White Hmong kev ‎(“road”)). See also 首 (OC *hljuʔ, *hljus).

Pronunciation

Definitions

道

1. way, path, road

   道路  ―  dàolù  ―  road

2. (historical) a circuit: an administrative division of late imperial China comprising 2 or more commanderies
3. method, principle
4. (philosophy) the Way, the Tao, the Dao: the way of nature and/or the ideal way to live one's life
5. Short for 道教 (dàojiào, “Taoism”).
6. Short for 道士 (dàoshì, “Taoist priest”).
7. doctrine, teachings (of a religion)

   傳道 / 传道  ―  chuándào  ―  to preach

8. to say, to utter

   能說會道 / 能说会道  ―  néngshuōhuìdào  ―  can talk really well [idiom]

9. Classifier for long things.

   一道閃電 / 一道闪电  ―  yīdào shǎndiàn  ―  a lightning

   一道河  ―  yīdào hé  ―  a river

   一道縫 / 一道缝  ―  yīdào féng  ―  a crack

   一道彩虹  ―  yī dào cǎihóng  ―  a rainbow

10. Classifier for barriers.

    一道籬笆 / 一道篱笆  ―  yīdào líbā  ―  a fence

11. Classifier for courses in a meal. dish

    一道菜  ―  yī dào cài  ―  a dish of food

12. Classifier for questions (in an exam).
13. Classifier for order, proclamation.

    一道公文  ―  yī dào gōngwén  ―  a proclamation

    一道命令  ―  yī dào mìnglìng  ―  an order

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. road; way

Readings

• Goon: どう (dō), (historical) だう (dau)
• Kan’on: とう (tō), (historical) たう (tau)
• Kun: みち (michi), ち (chi), じ (ji), (historical) ぢ (dji)
• Nanori: さ (sa), じ (ji), ど (do), みつ (mitsu)

Compounds

Etymology 1

/dau/ → /dɔː/ → /doː/

From Middle Chinese 道 ‎(dhɑ̀u, “road; way”). Compare modern Mandarin 道 ‎(dào), Cantonese 道 ‎(dou⁶).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Goon
• (Tokyo) ど​う [dóꜜò] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [do̞ː]

Noun

道 ‎(hiragana どう, romaji dō, historical hiragana だう)

1. The Way: tao, Taoism
2. (chiefly historical) A region of Japan consisting of multiple provinces or prefectures. Feudal Japan was divided into several dō; the only remaining dō is Hokkaidō.

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana どう, romaji Dō, historical hiragana だう)

1. A surname​.

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese.^[3] May be cognate with Korean 길 (gil, “road”).

More often written as 路.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [t͡ɕi]

Alternative forms

• 路

Suffix

道 ‎(hiragana ち, romaji -chi)

1. (obsolete) attaches to place names, indicating a road to that place

   This usage has generally been replaced by -ji below.

Etymology 3

Derived as a sound shift from chi above.^[3]

More often written as 路.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [d͡ʑi]

Alternative forms

• 路

Suffix

道 ‎(hiragana じ, romaji -ji, historical hiragana ぢ)

1. a road, a street

   山 (やま)道 (じ)、長 (なが)道 (じ)

   yama-ji, naga-ji

   a mountain road, a long road

2. attaches to place names, indicating a road to that place

   奈良 (なら)道 (じ)

   Nara-ji

   Road to Nara

3. attaches to a time duration, indicating a trip taking that length of time

   四日 (よっか)道 (じ)

   yokka-ji

   a trip of four days, a four-day-long trip

Etymology 4

Originally a compound of 御 ‎(mi, honorific prefix) +‎ 道 ‎(chi, “road, street, way”).^[3] The prefix mi was in reference to the 神 ‎(kami, “god or spirit”) of roads.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) みち [mìchí] (Heiban - [0])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [mit͡ɕi]

Alternative forms

• 路, 途, 径

Noun

道 ‎(hiragana みち, romaji michi)

1. a way, a street, a road, an alley, a path, a pass for local traffic
2. a way of doing something

Usage notes

This is the most common term for “road”, “street”, or “way” in modern Japanese.

Derived terms

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana みち, romaji Michi)

1. A female given name
2. A surname​.

Etymology 5

Used as ateji in various names.

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana おさむ, romaji Osamu)

1. A male given name

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana すすむ, romaji Susumu)

1. A male given name

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana たお, romaji Tao)

1. A female given name

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana ただし, romaji Tadashi)

1. A male given name

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana ただす, romaji Tadasu)

1. A male given name

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana どうざき, romaji Dōzaki)

1. A surname​.

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana とおる, romaji Tōru)

1. A female given name

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana なおし, romaji Naoshi)

1. A male given name

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana ふみ, romaji Fumi)

1. A female given name

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana まこと, romaji Makoto)

1. A male given name

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana みちざき, romaji Michizaki)

1. A surname​.

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana みちひろ, romaji Michihiro)

1. A male given name

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana もとい, romaji Motoi)

1. A male given name

Proper noun

道 ‎(hiragana わたる, romaji Wataru)

1. A male given name

References

1. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
2. 1 2 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3
3. 1 2 3 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan

Korean

Hanja

道 • ‎(do)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 도 (McCune-Reischauer: to, Yale: to)

• Name (hangeul): 길()

A road

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Compounds

Vietnamese

Han character

道 (đạo, dạo, nhạo)

1. way (to behave)