Chinese words starting with “dao”

36 words in our HSK vocabulary start with the syllable dao. They are sorted by how common they are, so the ones you are most likely to meet come first. The 7 most useful of them have their own page — they are listed first below.

Initial d · final ao · hear the four tones and see example characters →

1st tone 1
3rd tone 14
4th tone 21

Word counts by tone are counted on the first syllable of each word.

Common words with this syllable

到底dào dǐHSK 3
finally; in the end; when all is said and done; after all; to the end; to the last
导致dǎo zhìHSK 4
to lead to; to create; to cause; to bring about
导演dǎo yǎnHSK 3
to direct; director (film etc)
到达dào dáHSK 3
to reach; to arrive
到处dào chùHSK 2
everywhere
道路dào lùHSK 2
road; path; way
道理dào liHSK 2
reason; argument; sense; principle; basis; justification

All 36 words

#	Word	Pinyin	POS	Meaning
1	到	dào	v,p	to reach; to arrive; to leave for; to go to; to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point); (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point); considerate; thoughtful; thorough
2	道	dào	qv,n,v	road; path; principle; truth; morality; reason; skill; method; Dao (of Daoism); to say; to speak; to talk; classifier for long thin things (rivers, cracks etc), barriers (walls, doors etc), questions (in an exam etc), commands, courses in a meal, steps in a process; (old) circuit (administrative division)
3	倒	dào	v,d	to invert; to place upside down or frontside back; to pour out; to tip out; to dump; inverted; upside down; reversed; to go backward; contrary to what one might expect; but; yet
4	刀	dāo	n,q	knife; blade; single-edged sword; cutlass; (slang) dollar (loanword); classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper); classifier for knife cuts or stabs
5	岛	dǎo	n	island
6	道德	dào dé	n,a	virtue; morality; ethics
7	到来	dào lái	v,vn	to arrive; arrival; advent
8	道歉	dào qiàn	v,vn	to apologize
9	导弹	dǎo dàn	n	(guided) missile
10	倒是	dào shi	d,v	contrary to what one might expect; actually; contrariwise; why don't you
11	到位	dào wèi	v,vn	to get to the intended location; to be in place; to be in position; precise; well (done)
12	倒霉	dǎo méi	a,an	to have bad luck; to be out of luck
13	盗	dào	g	to steal; to rob; to plunder; thief; bandit; robber
14	盗窃	dào qiè	v,vn	to steal
15	倒数	dào shǔ	v,vn	to count backwards (from 10 down to 0); to count down; from the bottom (lines on a page); from the back (rows of seats)
16	倒下	dǎo xià	v	to collapse; to topple over
17	导师	dǎo shī	n	tutor; teacher; academic advisor
18	导航	dǎo háng	vn,v	navigation
19	道具	dào jù	n	prop (theater); paraphernalia; (gaming) item; artifact
20	到期	dào qī	v	to fall due (loan etc); to expire (visa etc); to mature (investment bond etc)
21	倒计时	dào jì shí		to count down; countdown
22	导游	dǎo yóu	n	tour guide; guidebook; to conduct a tour
23	倒塌	dǎo tā	v,vn	to collapse (of building); to topple over
24	倒闭	dǎo bì	v,vn	to go bankrupt; to close down
25	捣乱	dǎo luàn	v	to disturb; to look for trouble; to stir up a row; to bother sb intentionally
26	岛屿	dǎo yǔ	n	island
27	到头来	dào tóu lái	d	in the end; finally; as a result
28	盗版	dào bǎn	vn,n,v	pirated; illegal; see also 版
29	悼念	dào niàn	v,vn	to grieve
30	导向	dǎo xiàng	n	to be oriented towards; orientation
31	稻草	dào cǎo	n	rice straw
32	倒车	dào chē	v,vn	to reverse (a vehicle); to drive backwards
33	倒卖	dǎo mài	v	to resell at a profit; to speculate
34	导火索	dǎo huǒ suǒ	n	fuse (for explosive)
35	道教	dào jiào	nz	Taoism; Daoism (Chinese system of beliefs)
36	稻谷	dào gǔ	n	unhusked rice; paddy

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