HSK 4 · Objects

刀 dāo “knife” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 刀 means

  1. knife
  2. blade
  3. single-edged sword
  4. cutlass
  5. classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper)
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • classifier for knife cuts or stabs

How to say 刀

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale刀dāo1st tone, high and level

刀 in a sentence

  1. 我能借一下你的刀吗？

    Wǒ néng jiè yíxià nǐ de dāo ma?

    May I borrow your knife?

    Sentence #2052690 from Tatoeba

  2. 我是用刀切蛋糕的。

    Wǒ shì yòng dāo qiē dàngāo de.

    I used a knife to cut the cake.

    Sentence #2737435 from Tatoeba

  3. 这把刀很锋利。

    Zhè bǎ dāo hěn fēnglì.

    This knife is very sharp.

    Sentence #710289 from Tatoeba

How 刀 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 刀 (dāo) drawn as one shape
刀dāoknife; blade; single-edged sword

刀 is a single shape of 2 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 刀

刀 2 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

刀 (dāo) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 刀 (dāo). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 刀

Words with 刀

剪刀jiǎndāo · scissors

More words: Everyday Things

材料cáiliào · (raw) material场chǎng · measure word for events: a spell (of rain)窗户chuānghu · window答案dá'àn · answer动作dòngzuò · movement方法fāngfǎ · method方面fāngmiàn · respect方向fāngxiàng · direction

FAQs

刀 (dāo) means “knife” or “blade”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it dāo: dāo with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 刀 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 刀 from the suggestions. Typing dao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
刀 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.