道

道 U+9053, 道 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9053 ← 遒 CJK Unified Ideographs 達 →

Stroke order

Stroke order

道 (Kangxi radical 162, 辵+9, 13 strokes in traditional Chinese and Korean, 12 strokes in mainland China and Japanese, cangjie input 卜廿竹山 (YTHU), four-corner 3830₆, composition ⿺辶首)

• 𠿱, 𣿪, 檤, 𥽌, 𧒴, 𬧖, 𨭪, 𠁛, 𡚑, 噵, 導, 𣜦, 𨗳, 䆃, 㘏

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1262, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 39010
• Dae Jaweon: page 1754, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3864, character 1
• Unihan data for U+9053

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 道 (消歧義) (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 道 (搞清楚) (Cantonese)
• 道 (Classical)
• 道 (Wu)
• Tao (English)

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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *l'uːʔ) : semantic 辵 (“walking”) + phonetic 首 (OC *hljuʔ, *hljus).

Possibly derived from 導 (OC *duːs, “to go along, to bring along, to conduct”):

• > "to explain" > "to talk about", and
• > "road, way".

Possibly cognate with Proto-Hmong-Mien *kləuX (“road, way”) (White Hmong kev (“road”)). See also 首 (OC *hljuʔ, *hljus).

道

1. way; path; road

   道路  ―  dàolù  ―  road

2. (historical) circuit: an administrative division of late imperial China comprising 2 or more commanderies
   1. a Korean province

      京畿道  ―  jīngjīdào  ―  Gyeonggi province

3. (rail transport) track

   上道作業／上道作业  ―  shàng dào zuòyè  ―  maintenance on rail tracks

   1道通過／1道通过  ―  1 dào tōngguò  ―  passing on track 1

4. method; principle
5. (Buddhism) the Marga; the Way of bodhi or enlightenment leading to nirvana through spiritual stages
6. (philosophy, Taoism) the Way; the Tao; the Dao: the way of nature and/or the ideal way to live one's life

   • 道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Tao Te Ching, 4^th century BCE

     Dào kě dào, fēi cháng dào. Míng kě míng, fēi cháng míng.

     The Way that can be told is not the constant Way. The name that can be named is not the constant name.

7. (Christianity) Logos; the Word

   道成肉身  ―  Dào chéng ròushēn  ―  the Word became flesh; incarnation

8. Short for 道教 (Dàojiào, “Taoism”).
9. Short for 道士 (dàoshì, “Taoist priest”).
10. (religion) doctrine; teachings

    傳道／传道  ―  chuándào  ―  to preach

11. (Christianity) sermon (Classifier: 堂 m c)

    講道／讲道  ―  jiǎngdào  ―  to preach a sermon

12. (literary) to say; to utter

    能說會道／能说会道  ―  néngshuōhuìdào  ―  can talk really well (idiom)

    • 孟子道性善，言必稱堯舜。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
      孟子道性善，言必称尧舜。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

      From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

      Mèngzǐ dào xìngshàn, yán bì chēng Yáoshùn.

      Mencius said that human nature is good; when speaking he always made laudatory reference to Yao and Shun.

13. Classifier for long things.

    一道閃電／一道闪电  ―  yī dào shǎndiàn  ―  a bolt of lightning

    一道河  ―  yī dào hé  ―  a river

    一道縫／一道缝  ―  yī dào féng  ―  a crack

    一道彩虹  ―  yī dào cǎihóng  ―  a rainbow

14. Classifier for barriers.

    一道籬笆／一道篱笆  ―  yī dào líbā  ―  a fence

15. Classifier for courses in a meal: dish

    一道菜  ―  yī dào cài  ―  a dish of food

16. Classifier for questions (in an exam), orders or proclamations.

    一道公文  ―  yī dào gōngwén  ―  a proclamation

    一道命令  ―  yī dào mìnglìng  ―  an order

17. a surname