HSK 5 · Adjectives

地道 dìdao “authentic” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 地道 means

  1. authentic
  2. genuine
  3. proper

How to say 地道

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale地dì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own道daoneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

地道 in a sentence

  1. 我很希望可以说一口地道的中文。

    Wǒ hěn xīwàng kěyǐ shuō yìkǒu dìdao de Zhōngwén.

    I really hope I can speak authentic Chinese.

    Sentence #1182127 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他讲一口地道的俄语。

    Tā jiǎng yìkǒu dìdao de Éyǔ.

    He speaks authentic Russian.

    Sentence #10504010 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 这样说是不是更加地道呢？

    Zhèyàng shuō shìbushì gèngjiā dìdao ne?

    Would it sound more natural if I said it this way?

    Sentence #4813369 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 地道 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 地 (dì) with each of its parts in a different colour
地dìearth
  • 土earth · tǔMeaning part
  • 也also · yěSound part

土 hints at the meaning (earth); 也 (yě) hints at the sound. Compare it with dì.

Memory aidEarth 土 gives the meaning: the ground, a place.

The character 道 (dào) with each of its parts in a different colour
道dàoroad; path 条,股)light in 地道
  • 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 dao.

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

How to write 地道

地 6 strokes · 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.

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

Words related to 地道

Words with 地

地dì · earth地方dìfang · place地铁dìtiě · subway地图dìtú · map外地wàidì · another part of the country草地cǎodì · lawn地点dìdiǎn · place地址dìzhǐ · address地球dìqiú · the earth当地dāngdì · local

Words with 道

知道zhīdao · to know (a fact)街道jiēdào · street道dào · (m.w. for orders味道wèidao · flavour道歉dàoqiàn · to apologise难道nándào · don’t tell me …报道bàodào · to report (news)道德dàodé · virtue频道píndào · frequency道理dàoli · reason

More words: Adjectives

呆dāi · foolish单纯dānchún · simple单调dāndiào · monotonous淡dàn · light (in taste or colour)干燥gānzào · dry (weather高级gāojí · high level好客hàokè · hospitable滑huá · slippery

FAQs

地道 (dìdao) means “authentic” or “genuine”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it dìdao: dì with a 4th tone, then dao with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 地道 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type didao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 地道 from the suggestions. Typing didao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
地道 is an HSK 5 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.