刀

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Alternative forms

• 刂 (when used as a right radical component)

Han character

See images of
Radical 18 刀

刀 (Kangxi radical 18, 刀+0, 2 strokes, cangjie input 尸竹 (SH), four-corner 1722₀, composition ⿹𠃌丿)

1. Kangxi radical #18, ⼑.

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/刀
• 𫢈, 叨, 𪥂, 𭑪, 忉, 㧅, 𣱼, 𨸓, 辺, 𫼔, 𣃗, 旫, 朷, 𣬞, 灱, 𭸵, 𥘉, 𤿇, 𥐛, 𬇉, 糿, 舠, 虭, 𮕝, 釖, 𩉛, 䫸, 䬢, 𬀶, 䂶, 魛(鱽), 𪐛, 𪔹
• 𪠤, 𬰿, 鳭, 𠬛, 召, 𡔛, 𡴻, 𢖫, 𬅷, 𭷔, 𤰄, 𥁀, 𭇌, 𠱛, 𧌣, 𤎘, 𬺳, 叧, 屶, 芀, 𦦟, 𣱕, 𢦓, 𤴬, 𠥭, 辧, 齊, 䐡, 韲

Descendants

• ㄉ (Zhuyin alphabet)
• ㆵ (Bopomofo extended character)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 135, character 24
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1845
• Dae Jaweon: page 304, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 319, character 12
• Unihan data for U+5200

Chinese

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 刀 (消歧義) (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 刀 (搞清楚) (Cantonese)
• 刀 (Gan)
• Tô (Hakka)
• 刀 (Southern Min)

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 刀
Shang		Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – a knife.

Etymology 1

Unclear. Here are several proposals:

• Schuessler (2007) considers this to be an area word or a word widely borrowed from Chinese into other languages; compare Proto-Karen *ʔdɔ (“knife”), Jingpho (n³¹-do³¹, “short knife”), Proto-Vietic *-taːw (“knife”), Bulo Stieng taaw;
• Stephen Baron posits Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ta-w, with a sparsely attested suffix *-w retained in Sinitic yet lost in Tibeto-Burman, yielding Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s-ta (“knife; axe; sword”); compare Tibetan སྟ་རེ (sta re, “axe; hatchet”), Burmese ဓား (dha:, “knife; sword”), Proto-Loloish *ta² (“knife”) (STEDT);
• Starostin derives it from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tā̆w ~ *dā̆w, comparing it to Tibetan སྟེའུ (ste'u, “carpenter's axe, adze”) and Jingpho nhtu (“sword”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

刀

1. knife; blade (Classifier: 把 m c g h j mb md w x; 張／张 c h; 叢／丛 mn; 支 mn mn-t)
2. single-edged sword; cutlass
3. Classifier for sets of one hundred sheets of paper.
4. Classifier for incisions with a knife, blade, single-edged sword, etc.

   • 愛將我的我的心肝插一刀 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]
     爱将我的我的心肝插一刀 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]

     From: 2018, 黃妃 (Huang Fei), 心肝插一刀

     ài chiong góa ê góa ê sim-koaⁿ chhah chi̍t to [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     Love has stabbed my, my heart with a knife

5. (neologism, Internet) to bargain; to negotiate on price

   • 轉一張1026上海演唱會門票，原價880，可小刀。 [MSC, trad.]
     转一张1026上海演唱会门票，原价880，可小刀。 [MSC, simp.]

     From:

     Zhuǎn yī zhāng 10 26 shànghǎi yǎnchànghuì ménpiào, yuánjià 880, kě xiǎo dāo.

     Reselling an October 26 Shanghai concert ticket, original price 880, small negotiations available

6. a surname (only common among Tai people)

   刀世勛／刀世勋  ―  Dāo Shìxūn  ―  Dao Shixun

Synonyms

• (knife):

• (to bargain):

Compounds

Descendants

Others:

• → Khmer: ដាវ (daaw)
• → Vietnamese: dao
• → White Hmong: tob
• → English: dao

Etymology 2

From English dollar.

Pronunciation

Definitions

刀

1. (Mandarin, neologism, colloquial) dollar

Synonyms

• (Cantonese) 蚊

Compounds

Etymology 3

Japanese

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

刀

Wikipedia ^ja

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: と (to); とう (tō, Jōyō)^{←たう (tau, historical)}
• Kan-on: とう (tō, Jōyō)^{←たう (tau, historical)}
• Kun: かたな (katana, 刀, Jōyō)
• Nanori: き (ki); ち (chi); わき (waki)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese. First cited to the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE. From Proto-Japonic *katana.

Compound of 片 (kata, “one side”) + な (na, “edge”). This na element is spelled in monolingual Japanese sources as 刃 (“edge, blade”), but there is no historical attestation for any na reading for this character. A comparison with Middle Korean ᄂᆞᆶ〮 (nólh, “blade”) and modern Korean 날 (nal) suggests a Koreanic origin for this latter element.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かたな​ (Odaka – )
• (Tokyo) かた​な (Nakadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

刀(かたな) • (katana) 

1. (weaponry) a single-edged sword, such as a katana

   Coordinate terms: 剣 (tsurugi, “double-edged sword”), 脇差 (wakizashi, “traditional Japanese shortsword”), 短刀 (tantō, “traditional Japanese knife or dagger”), 大小 (daishō, ““big and small”: the katana and wakizashi as a set”)

   • 1999 September 23, “鎧(よろい)武(む)者(しゃ)ゾンビ”, in Vol.5, Konami:

     怨(おん)念(ねん)により蘇(よみがえ)った武(む)者(しゃ)。闇(やみ)雲(くも)にふりまわすカタナに注(ちゅう)意(い)。

     Onnen ni yori yomigaetta musha. Yamikumo ni furimawasu katana ni chūi.

     A musha reanimated by deep hatred. Watch out when he brandishes his katana.

2. a small single-edged blade

   Synonym: 切れ物 (kiremono)

Derived terms

Idioms

Etymology 2

/tau/ → /tɔː/ → /toː/

Ultimately from Middle Chinese 刀 (MC taw). Compare modern Mandarin 刀 (dāo).

First cited as an independent noun to a text from 1895. Cited in compounds since at least the 800s CE.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) と​ー (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Affix

刀(とう) • (tō) ^{←たう (tau)?}

1. sword, knife, blade

Noun

刀(とう) • (tō) ^{←たう (tau)?}

1. a sword, a katana

   Synonyms: 刀 (katana), 刀剣 (tōken)

2. a scalpel, such as that used by a surgeon

   Synonym: メス (mesu)

3. a kind of bronze or copper money in ancient China, shaped a bit like a sword

   Synonyms: 刀銭 (tōsen), 刀泉 (tōsen)

Derived terms

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 刀 (MC taw).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

刀

Wikisource

刀 (eumhun 칼 도 (kal do))

1. Hanja form^? of 도 (“sword; knife”).

Compounds

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Old Korean

Particle

刀 (*-two)

1. as well; too; either, or (negative) neither, nor

Descendants

• Middle Korean: 도〮 (-twó)
  • Korean: 도 (-do)

Vietnamese

Han character

刀: Hán Nôm readings: đao, dao, đeo

1. chữ Hán form of đao (“single-edged sword”).
2. chữ Hán form of dao (“knife”).

Compounds

References

• Nom Foundation