倒 (dǎo): to fall, to invert
倒 (dǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “to fall, to invert.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (semantic) and 到 (phonetic). It ranks #608 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 倒 person. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 什 (shén, what), 今 (jīn, now).
Definitions
- to fall, to invert
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 倒 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 倒
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 倒是adverb | dào shi | contrary to what one might expect | 6 |
| 倒闭verb | dǎo bì | to go bankrupt | 6 |
| 倒车verb | dǎo chē | to change buses, trains etc | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 倒霉 | dǎo méi | to have bad luck |
| 倒数 | dào shǔ | to count backwards (from 10 down to 0) |
| 倒下 | dǎo xià | to collapse |
| 打倒 | dǎ dǎo | to overthrow |
| 击倒 | jī dǎo | to knock down |
| 颠倒 | diān dǎo | to turn upside down |
| 跌倒 | diē dǎo | to tumble |
| 昏倒 | hūn dǎo | to faint |
| 绊倒 | bàn dǎo | to trip |
| 倒塌 | dǎo tā | to collapse (of building) |
| 倒退 | dào tuì | to fall back |
| 倒流 | dào liú | to flow backwards |
| 潦倒 | liáo dǎo | down on one's luck |
| 病倒 | bìng dǎo | to fall ill |
| 拉倒 | lā dǎo | (coll.) forget it |
倒 appears in 100 compound words: 77 as the first character, 23 as the last, and 0 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 倒 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (32)
to do things in a perverse way; to go against good; to commit evil deeds
lit. the crisis of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation; dire straits
lit. the pain of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation; dire straits
critical juncture; the brink of destruction; a danger which puts one in dire straits
to confuse right and wrong; to confound right with wrong; to distort the truth; to misrepresent the facts
to do things in a perverse way; to go against good; to commit evil deeds
lit. the crisis of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation; dire straits
lit. the pain of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation; dire straits
critical juncture; the brink of destruction; a danger which puts one in dire straits
to confuse right and wrong; to confound right with wrong; to distort the truth; to misrepresent the facts
Showing 12 of 32 idioms containing 倒.
Example Sentences
货架上的箱子摆放不稳，很容易倒下来伤人。
Huòjià shang de xiāngzi bǎifàng bù wěn, hěn róngyì dǎo xiàlái shāng rén.
The boxes on the shelf are not placed stably and could easily fall and injure someone.
福建女孩扶起骑车摔倒老人 遭索赔人民币22万缠讼近1年
fú jiàn nǚ hái fú qǐ qí chē shuāi dǎo lǎo rén zāo suǒ péi rén mín bì 2 2 wàn chán sòng jìn 1 nián
Fujian girl helped up and fell on a bicycle and fell down an old man and was sued for nearly 1 year with a claim of RMB 220,000
排山倒海 扑面而来!六百只宋代瓷碗在这叠成墙
pái shān dǎo hǎi pū miàn ér lái ! liù bǎi zhī sòng dài cí wǎn zài zhè dié chéng qiáng
Overwhelming and coming! Six hundred Song Dynasty porcelain bowls are stacked on this wall
倒酱油、拌肉馅,看春晚机器人化身“新春大厨...
dǎo jiàng yóu , bàn ròu xiàn , kàn chūn wǎn jī qì rén huà shēn xīn chūn dà chú . . .
Pour soy sauce, mix meat filling, and watch the Spring Festival Gala robot transform into a "New Year chef...
福建老太骑车摔倒,扶人女孩被定次责索赔22万,母亲..
fú jiàn lǎo tài qí chē shuāi dǎo , fú rén nǚ hái bèi dìng cì zé suǒ péi mò , mǔ qīn . .
Fujian old woman fell down on a bike, helping the girl was held responsible for 220,000, the mother...
春晚机器人“摔倒”,网友:是故意的还是不小心的?宇..
chūn wǎn jī qì rén shuāi dǎo , wǎng yǒu shì gù yì de hái shì bù xiǎo xīn de ? yǔ . .
Spring Festival Gala robot "fall", netizens: is it intentional or accidental? Yu...
我们是不是该退一步，免得倒下？
Wǒmen shìbùshì gāi tuì yī bù, miǎnde dǎoxià?
Maybe we should take a step back before we fall?
我竟然蠢得被这么简单的谎话骗倒了！
Wǒ jìngrán chǔn de bèi zhème jiǎndān de huǎnghuà piàn dǎo le!
How foolish I was not to discover that simple lie!
所有苹果树都被砍倒了。
Suǒyǒu píngguǒ shù dōu bèi kǎn dǎo le.
All the apple trees were cut down.
他年轻的时候穷困潦倒。
Tā niánqīng de shíhou qióngkùn liǎodǎo.
He was terribly poor when he was young.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 倒 (dǎo) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 倒 and 起?
How many strokes does 倒 have?
What is the radical of 倒?
What are the components of 倒?
What are common words containing 倒?
What characters sound the same as 倒 (dǎo)?
Is 倒 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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