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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

道

dào
a path or course along which something moves, flows or extends
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 辵
  • 13 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • derived
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Origin

In the bronze inscriptions, a phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *l'uːʔ): semantic 行 (“street”) + phonetic 𩠐 (OC *hljuʔ, *hljus) + semantic 止 (“foot”). The 亍 on the right eventually disappeared, leading to the semantic components combining into 辵 in the seal script.

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

* > "to explain" > "to talk about", and

* > "road, way".

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

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese行 “to walk”
    • componentChinese彳 “to walk slowly”
    • componentChinese亍 “to stop; to stand still”
  • soundChinese首 “head”
  • meaningChinese止 “foot”

Related: Proto-Hmong-Mien *kləuˣ, White Hmong kev

Words built on it: 知道, 味道, 道路, 道理, 道德, 街道, 道歉, 導

Meanings

character
  1. a path or course along which something moves, flows or extends
  2. an administrative division called a dao
  3. a Korean province
  4. a Japanese prefectural-level division
  5. a way, method, means, skill or field of practice
  6. a principle, law, pattern or proper order; morality or good government

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

道：所行道也。从辵从𩠐。一達謂之道。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 路途、途徑。 例：鐵道、河道、省道
  2. 事理。 例：道理、頭頭是道
  3. 方法。 例：以其人之道，還治其人之身。
  4. 思想、學說。 例：老莊之道
  5. 說、談。 例：常言道、一語道破、能言善道
  6. 真正的、實在的。 例：道地

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 道 was written 字形演變

  1. 道 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 道 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 道 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 道 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 道 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 道