刀剑

刀劍
dāojiàn
noun #43,430

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 swords and knives
  2. 2 blades / bladed weapons (collectively)

Examples

HSK 6
Bówùguǎn shōucáng le xǔduō gǔdài dāojiàn.
The museum has a collection of many ancient swords and blades.
HSK 7-9
Tā cóngxiǎo míliàn dāojiàn, zhǎngdà hòu chéng le yí wèi zhùjiànshī.
He has been fascinated by blades since childhood and grew up to become a swordsmith.

Tips

mistakes
Strictly speaking dāo is a single-edged saber/knife and jiàn is a double-edged straight sword - different weapons. The compound 刀剑 is the umbrella term, much like English 'blades' covers both.
culture
Common in martial-arts (武侠 wǔxiá) novels and games. Set phrase: 刀剑无眼 ('blades have no eyes' - i.e. they don't recognize friend or foe; combat is dangerous).

Stroke Order

dāo
jiàn