兜

兜 (Kangxi radical 10, 儿+9, 11 strokes, cangjie input 竹女竹山 (HVHU), four-corner 7721₇).

• 𱔍, 𮰪, 㨮, 𣘛, 𦄓, 篼, 蔸, 𩮷

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 125, character 20
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1386
• Dae Jaweon: page 265, character 27
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 273, character 16
• Unihan data for U+515C

Historical forms of the character 兜
Small seal script s06217 Transcribed ancient scripts L33694 L12173 L12174 L12175
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 𠑹 (“cover”) + 皃 (“head”): a helmet.

Baxter and Sagart (2014) suggests a connection to 頭 (OC *ˤo, “head”). See there for more.

兜

1. helmet; hood
2. helmet-shaped
3. armor
4. to wrap in a bag; to encase; to carry in a wrap
5. bag; pouch; plastic bag
6. pocket
7. to pocket; to keep; to retain; to acquire dishonestly
8. to reach
9. to move around; to move in a circle

   兜嚟兜去   ―  dau¹ lai⁴ dau¹ heoi³   ―  to pace around; to walk around here and there

10. to canvass; to solicit

    兜生意  ―  dōu shēngyi  ―  to solicit business

11. to take responsibility for
12. to relate in detail
13. to peddle; to hawk
14. (Hokkien) home
    • (Can we date this quote?), “少年英雄”‎performed by 梁智強 and 李國煌:

      恁兜的爸母誰來飼？
      恁兜的爸母谁来饲？

      Lín tau ê pē-bú siâng lâi chhī?

      Who will provide for your parents at home?

15. (Hokkien) nearby
16. (Singapore Hokkien) place; side; location

    這兜／这兜   ―  chit-tau   ―  this place; this side; this location

17. (Cantonese) flat or shallow container; flat or shallow bowl

    揸兜   ―  zaa¹ dau¹   ―  to beg on the streets (literally "to hold a shallow bowl")

    入啲餸落個兜
    入啲𩠌落个兜

    jap⁶ di¹ sung³ lok⁶ go³ dau¹

    put the food into the container

18. (Cantonese) to contain; to hold in a container; to hold with one's hand(s) in a horizontal positional

    快啲搵個嘢嚟兜住啲水，等佢唔好再滴落嚟！
    快啲揾个嘢嚟兜住啲水，等佢唔好再滴落嚟！

    faai³ di¹ wan² go³ je⁵ lai⁴ dau¹ zyu⁶ di¹ seoi², dang² keoi⁵ m⁴ hou² zoi³ dik⁶ lok⁶ lai⁴!

    Quickly find something that could hold the water, so that it won't drip ever again!

19. (Cantonese) to make a detour; to bypass; to deviate
20. (Cantonese, of routes or journeys) indirect; lengthy; with detours or deviations
21. (Cantonese) to explain one's way out of a bad situation

    你講到咁離譜，而家點兜都兜唔返。
    你讲到咁离谱，而家点兜都兜唔返。

    nei⁵ gong² dou³ gam³ lei⁴ pou², ji⁴ gaa¹ dim² dau¹ dou¹ dau¹ m⁴ faan¹.

    You've gone too far with what you said. There's no way to get it right.

22. (Cantonese) Classifier for things put in a flat or shallow container.

    兩兜冷飯／两兜冷饭   ―  loeng⁵ dau¹ laang⁵ faan⁶   ―  two containers of leftover rice

23. (Cantonese) to scoop with a flat or shallow container
24. (Cantonese) to hit with one's limbs, in a curved trajectory; to slap (someone); to kick

    兜巴星   ―  dau¹ baa¹ sing¹   ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• (pocket): 口袋 (kǒudai), 衣袋 (yīdài), 衣兜 (yīdōu)
• (bag): (Hokkien) 袋仔 (tē-á)
• (to move in a circle): 繞／绕 (rào)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

兜

1. (Hakka) some; a few; a little; a bit (an indefinite amount)
2. (Hakka) Plural marker for pronouns.

• (Min Nan pronunciation audio) “兜”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

• Go-on: つ (tsu)、と (to)
• Kan-on: とう (tō)
• Kun: かぶと (kabuto, 兜)

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

兜

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Kabuto (traditional Japanese helmet)

Wikipedia

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Helmet (in general)

Wikipedia

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *kanputo. Cognate with Okinawan 兜 (kantu). Attested in the Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki (794) with the spellings 可夫刀 and 可夫度. One source cites a manuscript of the Nihon Shoki (720) in which the word 冑 in the word has a katakana gloss カフト but these glosses may be later readings.

Derivation currently unknown.

• A surface analysis might suggest a derivation from 被る (kaburu, “to wear something on the head”). However, that reading derives from older form kagafuru and does not appear until the Nihon Ryōiki (810-824), some time after the first appearance of kabuto.

• An alternative analysis might suggest a compound of 頭 (kabu, “head”, kun'yomi and native Japanese term) +‎ 兜 (to, “helmet”, on'yomi and borrowing from Chinese).

• Word-medial bilabial plosives usually underwent lenition, shifting along the lines of /p/ → /f/ → /w/, then vanishing altogether except where the following vowel was /a/. This lenition often did not happen at morpheme boundaries in compound words. The persistence of the /b/ in kabuto might thus suggest that this term was originally a compound of ka + puto. The ka element is uncertain, possibly the か (ka-) intensifying prefix added to adjectives, or an abbreviation of 髪 (kami, “hair (of the head)”) or 上 (kami, “top”) (compare 挿頭す (kazasu, “to put decorations onto a hair or crown”, possibly from kami + 刺す (sasu, “to poke”)); Old Japanese puto would be the stem and root of modern 太い (futoi, “thick; fat; stout”), possibly in reference to the protective strength provided by a helmet. This puto would then have undergone rendaku (連濁) to become buto.

Compare the phonology of adjective か細い (kabosoi, “very slender”), composed of this ka- prefix and adjective 細い (hosoi, ancient pososi) and demonstrating a similar retention of the bilabial plosive and rendaku (連濁).

• (Tokyo) かぶと (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

兜(かぶと) • (kabuto) 

1. a helmet

兜 (eum 두 (du))

1. (투구 두, tugu-): helmet (especially, made of iron)

• 冑 (주, ju)

• 甲 (갑, gap) armor

兜: Hán Nôm readings: đâu

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.