陶 (táo) · pottery, ceramics, a surname (Tao)

Meanings

1 pottery
2 ceramics
3 a surname (Tao)

Characters

陶

táo

pottery; ceramics; surname

Examples

HSK 1

陶先生是我们的老师。

Táo xiānsheng shì wǒmen de lǎoshī.

Mr. Tao is our teacher.

HSK 6

这个陶罐很古老。

Zhège táo guàn hěn gǔlǎo.

This pottery jar is very old.

Tips

culture

陶渊明 was a famous Chinese poet known for his pastoral poetry and love of nature.

usage

陶 as a material appears in compounds like 陶瓷 (ceramics), 陶器 (pottery). As a verb it can mean 'to mold' or 'to cultivate' (陶冶).

Components

radical

阝 fù

mound; hill (left-side radical)

Left mound radical 阝 - the contracted form of 阜 (hill), the indexing radical here when 阝 is on the left (Kangxi #170 fù). Pottery was traditionally made by digging clay from hillsides, so the mound is literal - clay-rich earth. Same left-阝 anchors 院, 防, 阴, 险. (Right-side 阝 is unrelated 邑 'city'.)

phonetic

匋 táo

pottery (phonetic)

Right component supplies the sound (táo, exact match) and is itself the original word for pottery - a person 勹 hunched over a 缶 jar at the wheel. So 陶 is etymologically 'mound + potter' - clay from the hillside being shaped on a wheel. Same phonetic in 萄 (grape), 淘 (rinse), 掏 (scoop out).