HSK 3.0 Level 4 · Measure Words

道 dào “(m.w. for orders” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 道 means

  1. (m.w. for orders, dishes)
  2. way
  3. road
  4. path
  5. (bound form) way
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • reason
  • principle
  • (bound form) a skill
  • an art
  • a specialisation
  • (Daoism) the Way

How to say 道

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale道dào4th tone, falling

道 in a sentence

  1. 这道菜很好吃。

    Zhè dào cài hěn hǎochī.

    This dish is delicious.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 这道题太难了。

    Zhè dào tí tài nán le.

    This question is too hard.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  3. 我们点了四道菜。

    Wǒmen diǎn le sì dào cài.

    We ordered four dishes.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 道 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 道 (dào) with each of its parts in a different colour
道dàoroad; path 条,股)
  • 首head · shǒuSound part
  • 辶walking form of 辵 · chuòMeaning part

辶 hints at the meaning (walking); 首 (shǒu) hints at the sound. Compare it with dào.

Memory aidPicture walking 辶 with your head 首 leading the way: a road, a way.

How to write 道

道 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 道

Words with 道

知道zhīdao · to know (a fact)街道jiēdào · street味道wèidao · flavour道歉dàoqiàn · to apologise难道nándào · don’t tell me …报道bàodào · to report (news)地道dìdao · authentic道德dàodé · virtue频道píndào · frequency道理dàoli · reason

More words: Measure Words & Quantities

句jù · (m.w. for sentences)不少bùshǎo · quite a few度dù · degree

FAQs

道 (dào) means “(m.w. for orders, dishes)” or “way”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 4 word.
Say it dào: dào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 道 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 道 from the suggestions. Typing dao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
道 is an HSK 3.0 Level 4 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 3 word list. It is not on the older 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.