dòu
noun #19,011

Meanings

  1. 1 (anatomy) cavity; sinus
  2. 2 (literary) hole; aperture
  3. 3 surname Dou

Examples

Bí dòu yán huì dǎozhì tóutòng hé bísè.
Sinusitis can cause headaches and nasal congestion.
Tā xìng Dòu, shì gè yīshēng.
His surname is Dou; he is a doctor.

Components

radical
xué
cave; hole (Kangxi #116)
Top — pictograph of a cave entrance with roof and side supports, the indexing radical for hole-and-cavity words ( empty, 穿 pierce, window). Sets the medical meaning 'sinus, cavity' as literally a small cave inside the body, and the literary 'hole, aperture' as any opening.
phonetic
mài
to sell (here phonetic)
Bottom supplies the sound through historical drift: the simplified stands in for the traditional / phonetic series giving readings like dú and dòu. Modern dòu is preserved despite the visual change. Same simplified phonetic appears in (ditch) and (read), each with a related dú/dòu reading.

Stroke Order

dòu