道 (dào): road

Meanings

1 road
2 way
3 principle

Characters

道

dào

road; way; principle; to say

Walking radical 辶 + 首 (head) — a head leading the way down a path, the Way (Dao)

Examples

条条大路通罗马。

Tiáotiáo dàlù tōng Luómǎ.

All roads lead to Rome.

这道题太难了。

Zhè dào tí tài nán le.

This question is too difficult.

他知道这个道理。

Tā zhīdào zhège dàolǐ.

He understands this principle.

Tips

history

道 (Dào) is the central concept of Daoism (道教) — 'the Way' — the fundamental principle underlying the universe, as described in the 道德经 by Laozi.

usage

Also a measure word for questions (一道题), courses of food (一道菜), and long thin things like rays (一道光).

Components

radical

辶 chuò

walk; movement (radical)

Wrapping walk radical (Kangxi #162 辵 in its 3-stroke compressed form). Pictures a foot stepping along a road. Anchors 道 in the family of motion-and-travel verbs: 进 (advance), 退 (retreat), 远 (far), 边 (side), 还 (return). With 首 leading the way, 道 is literally 'the path the head walks on.'

semantic

首 shǒu

head; chief

Inner 首 (head) — the leading element walking along the road. A classic compound: 'head' on a path = the way one is heading, the principle one follows. From this come both literal meanings (road, route) and abstract ones (the Way 道, doctrine, method). Provides a faint phonetic echo (shǒu → dào is irregular) plus the primary semantic anchor.