妒 (dù): to envy

Meanings

1 to envy
2 to be jealous of
3 jealousy

Characters

妒

dù

to envy; jealous

Examples

HSK 7-9

她妒忌同事的成功。

Tā dùjì tóngshì de chénggōng.

She envied her colleague's success.

HSK 7-9

嫉妒会蒙蔽人的双眼。

Jídù huì méngbì rén de shuāngyǎn.

Jealousy can blind a person's eyes.

Tips

usage

妒 is a classical character rarely used alone in modern Mandarin. Most common in 嫉妒 and 妒忌. Features the 女 radical.

memory

妒 = 女 (woman) + 户 (door/household): jealousy shut inside the home. A vivid mnemonic for the character structure.

Components

radical

女 nǚ

woman

Left-side woman radical, three strokes of a kneeling figure with folded hands. Anchors 妒 in the family of social-emotional words tied to the old gendered worldview, originally jealousy among co-wives in a polygamous household. The framing is historical, not endorsement. Same family: 妙, 妨, 嫉.

phonetic

户 hù

door; household

Right side 户 supplies the sound, hù drifting to dù through a regular alternation in old readings. The single-leaf-door picture of 户 also adds meaning: jealousy is the resentment of one household toward another, the suspicion between rival doors.