倒 (dào): to invert; to place upside down

Meanings

1 to invert; to place upside down
2 to pour out; to tip out; to dump
3 inverted; upside down; reversed
4 to go backward
5 but; yet; on the contrary

Characters

倒

dào

to invert; to place upside down

Examples

请帮我倒一杯水。

Qǐng bāng wǒ dào yī bēi shuǐ.

Please pour me a glass of water.

这幅画挂倒了。

Zhè fú huà guà dào le.

This painting is hung upside down.

他倒挺聪明的。

Tā dào tǐng cōngmíng de.

He's actually quite clever — more than you'd think.

Tips

mistakes

Don't mix this dào with the 3rd-tone dǎo. dào (4th tone) is about INVERSION or REVERSAL: pour the kettle (倒水), hang the picture upside down (倒挂), back up the car (倒车), count down (倒数), see a reflection in water (倒影). dǎo (3rd tone) is about FALLING or COLLAPSING: 跌倒, 倒塌, 倒闭. Same character, opposite mental image.

grammar

As an adverb, dào marks contrast or mild surprise — 'actually, contrary to what you'd expect.' 他倒说得对 = 'He's actually right (didn't see that coming).' Common combinations: 倒是 (as it turns out), 反倒 (on the contrary, instead). Often softens a concession before pivoting: 贵倒是贵，可是质量好 = 'Expensive it is, but the quality is good.'

Components

radical

亻 rén

person (radical form)

Person radical on the left — the side-form of 人. Anchors 倒 as something a person does or has happen to them: falling over, being knocked down, tipping a vessel. Same radical in 你, 他, 信 — the human-action family.

phonetic

到 dào

to arrive; to reach

Right side 到 supplies the sound: dào → dǎo (3rd tone, fall/collapse) or dào (4th tone, invert/pour). Semantically there's a faint thread too — 'arriving' becomes 'arriving at the ground' for the dǎo sense, and 'arriving in reverse order' for the dào sense. 到 itself contains the knife radical 刂.