蹈 (dǎo): to dance, to tread

蹈 (dǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “to dance, to tread.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 足 (semantic) and 舀 (phonetic). It ranks #2532 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 蹈 foot. Its radical form 足 (foot) appears in many related characters such as 跑 (pǎo, to run), 跟 (gēn, follow, heel), 路 (lù, road).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to dance, to tread

Etymology & Origin

蹈

pictophoneticfoot

Decomposition: ⿰足舀 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

Practice writing 蹈 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 蹈

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
舞蹈nounwǔ dǎodance (performance art)5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
重蹈覆辙verbchóng dǎo fù zhélit. to follow in the tracks of an overturned cart (idiom)
循规蹈矩phrasexún guī dǎo jǔto follow the compass and go with the set square (idiom)
舞蹈家nounwǔ dǎo jiādancer
赴汤蹈火phrasefù tāng dǎo huǒlit. to jump into scalding water and plunge into raging fire (idiom)
手舞足蹈phraseshǒu wǔ zú dǎolit. to move one's hands and feet about (idiom)
高举远蹈gāo jǔ yuǎn dǎoto leave office for a high and distant place (idiom)
北京舞蹈学院běi jīng wǔ dǎo xué yuànBeijing Dance Academy
民间舞蹈mín jiān wǔ dǎofolk dance
蹈常袭故phrasedǎo cháng xí gùfollow the same old path (idiom)
民族舞蹈mín zú wǔ dǎofolk dance
发扬蹈厉fā yáng dǎo lìsee 發揚踔厲|发扬踔厉
重蹈chóng dǎo(fig.) to follow (a path that has proved ill-advised)
高蹈gāo dǎoto travel far
亨丁顿舞蹈症nounhēng dīng dùn wǔ dǎo zhèngHuntington's disease
亨廷顿舞蹈症hēng tíng dùn wǔ dǎo zhèngHuntington's disease
16
Total compounds
6
As first character
44
As last character
50
As middle character

蹈 appears in 16 compound words: 6 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 50 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 蹈 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

舞wǔ
0.76955,087 co-occurrences
辙zhé
0.594166 co-occurrences
覆fù
0.430658 co-occurrences
矩jǔ
0.370272 co-occurrences
乐lè
0.3631,474 co-occurrences
芭bā
0.354200 co-occurrences
演yǎn
0.3464,102 co-occurrences
室shì
0.3441,434 co-occurrences
循xún
0.332274 co-occurrences
赴fù
0.327306 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

蹈常袭故dǎochángxígùHSK 7+

to follow old rules or traditions and not be flexible

phrase
发扬蹈厉fā yáng dǎo lìHSK 5+

see 發揚踔厲|发扬踔厉

phrase
赴汤蹈火fùtāngdǎohuǒHSK 7+

to defy all difficulties and dangers; to fear and shun no difficulties or dangers

phrase
高举远蹈gāo jǔ yuǎn dǎoHSK 5+

to leave office for a high and distant place (idiom); to retire and place oneself above the fray

phrase
循规蹈矩xúnguīdǎojǔHSK 6+

to keep on the straight and narrow; to obey rules and laws

phrase
重蹈覆辙chóngdǎofùzhéHSK 7+

to repeat the same mistake; to recommit the same error

verb

Showing 6 of 7 idioms containing 蹈.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

她学习舞蹈已经十年了,舞技非常精湛。

Tā xuéxí wǔdǎo yǐjīng shí nián le, wǔjì fēicháng jīngzhàn.

She has been learning dance for ten years; her dancing skills are exquisite.

NewtalkApr 2026

...是光复?!网友PO寿丰溪河床淤积照 忧重蹈堰塞湖覆辙

. . . shì guāng fù ? ! wǎng yǒu P O shòu fēng xī hé chuáng yū jī zhào yōu chóng dǎo 堰 sāi hú fù zhé

...Is this a return to the past?! Netizens post photos of silt buildup in the Shoufeng River, fearing a repeat of the landslide-dammed lake disaster

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Mar 2026

神韵演员舞蹈协调同步 欧洲舞蹈亚军钦佩

shén yùn yǎn yuán wǔ dǎo xié diào tóng bù ōu zhōu wǔ dǎo yà jūn qīn pèi

Shen Yun Dancers' Perfect Synchronization Impresses European Dance Runner-Up

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

全国学生舞蹈比赛完赛 北高两场展演展现艺术学习成果

quán guó xué shēng wǔ dǎo bǐ sài wán sài běi gāo liǎng chǎng zhǎn yǎn zhǎn xiàn yì shù xué xí chéng guǒ

National Student Dance Competition Concludes; Two Performances at Beijing High School Showcase Students’ Artistic Achievements

WorldjournalMar 2026

川普:不担心会重蹈“越战”覆辙 1小时就可瘫痪伊朗电力

chuān pǔ : bù dān xīn huì chóng dǎo yuè zhàn fù zhé 1 xiǎo shí jiù kě tān huàn yī lǎng diàn lì

Trump: Not Worried About Repeating the 'Vietnam War' Mistake; Could Paralyze Iran's Power Grid in an Hour

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Mar 2026

造船公司老板观神韵 赞舞蹈演员技艺顶尖

zào chuán gōng sī lǎo bǎn guàn shén yùn zàn wǔ dǎo yǎn yuán jì yì dǐng jiān

The owner of the shipbuilding company watched Shen Yun and praised the dancers' top skills

Tatoeba

根据习俗,新娘应该循规蹈矩。

Gēnjù xísú, xīnniáng yīnggāi xúnguīdǎojǔ.

According to custom, the bride should be compliant.

Tatoeba

葵成为一个舞蹈家。

Kuí chéngwéi yī gè wǔdǎojiā.

Aoi became a dancer.

Tatoeba

贝蒂是一个舞蹈老师。

Bèi dì shì yī gè wǔdǎo lǎoshī.

Betty is a dancing teacher.

Tatoeba

我不知道那种舞蹈。

Wǒ bù zhīdào nàzhǒng wǔdǎo.

I do not know that dance.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 足 (foot) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced dǎo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蹈 (dǎo) mean in Chinese?
蹈 (dǎo) primarily means "to dance, to tread." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2532 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 蹈 and 滔?
蹈 (dǎo) and 滔 (tāo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 足 vs 氵 (same 舀 component).
How many strokes does 蹈 have?
蹈 is written with 17 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 蹈?
The radical associated with 蹈 is 足 (foot). This radical appears in many characters related to foot.
What are the components of 蹈?
蹈 is composed of: 足 (semantic), 舀 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰足舀 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蹈?
Common words with 蹈 include: 舞蹈 (wǔ dǎo, "dance (performance art)"); 重蹈覆辙 (chóng dǎo fù zhé, "lit. to follow in the tracks of an overturned cart (idiom)"); 循规蹈矩 (xún guī dǎo jǔ, "to follow the compass and go with the set square (idiom)"); 舞蹈家 (wǔ dǎo jiā, "dancer"); 赴汤蹈火 (fù tāng dǎo huǒ, "lit. to jump into scalding water and plunge into raging fire (idiom)"). There are over 16 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 蹈 (dǎo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dǎo: 到 (to reach), 道 (road, way), 导 (to transmit), 倒 (to fall, to invert), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 蹈 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 蹈 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 蹈 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.