HSK 6 · Adjectives

公道 gōngdao “fair” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 公道 means

  1. fair
  2. reasonable
  3. fair-minded
  4. equitable

How to say 公道

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale公gōng1st tone, high and level
  • 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

公道 in a sentence

  1. 这家店的价格很公道。

    Zhè jiā diàn de jiàgé hěn gōngdao.

    This shop’s prices are very fair.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 他说话办事很公道。

    Tā shuōhuà bànshì hěn gōngdao.

    He’s fair in what he says and does.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 公道 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 公 (gōng) with each of its parts in a different colour
公gōngpublic
  • 八eight · bā
  • 厶private · sī

Memory aidAn old explanation: share out 八 what is private 厶, and it becomes public.

The character 道 (dào) with each of its parts in a different colour
道daoroad; 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 dao.

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

How to write 公道

公 4 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.

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

Words related to 公道

Words with 公

公司gōngsī · company公交车gōngjiāochē · public transport vehicle公共汽车gōnggòng qìchē · bus公斤gōngjīn · kilogram公园gōngyuán · public park办公室bàngōngshì · office公里gōnglǐ · kilometre高速公路gāosùgōnglù · motorway外公wàigōng · grandpa (mother’s father)公元gōngyuán · CE (Common Era)

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)地道dìdao · authentic道德dàodé · virtue频道píndào · frequency

More words: Adjectives

高超gāochāo · superb高明gāomíng · brilliant高尚gāoshàng · noble根深蒂固gēnshēndìgù · deep-rooted恭敬gōngjìng · respectful公正gōngzhèng · fair广阔guǎngkuò · vast古怪gǔguài · strange

FAQs

公道 (gōngdao) means “fair” or “reasonable”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it gōngdao: gōng with a 1st 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. 公道 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gongdao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 公道 from the suggestions. Typing gongdao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
公道 is an HSK 6 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.