(dāo): knife, blade, single-edged sword, cutlass, (slang) (loanword) dollar, classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper)

(dāo) is a Chinese character meaning “knife.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丿 (structural). It ranks #1066 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. knife
  2. blade
  3. single-edged sword
  4. cutlass
  5. (slang) (loanword) dollar
  6. classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper)

Stroke Order

1
2

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounjiǎn dāoscissors5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
dāo ziknife
dāo fēngcutting edge or point of a knife, sword or tool
tì dāorazor
xiǎo dāoknife
dāo piànblade
cì dāobayonet
dāo rènknife blade
kāi dāo(of a surgeon) to perform an operation
kǎn dāomachete
lián dāosickle
dāo jùcutting tool
dāo chāknife and fork
dāo kǒuthe edge of a knife
jūn dāomilitary knife
cài dāovegetable knife
100
Total compounds
27
As first character
64
As last character
9
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 27 as the first character, 64 as the last, and 9 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.5954,974 co-occurrences
tǒng
0.5831,833 co-occurrences
0.5523,936 co-occurrences
kǎn
0.5406,027 co-occurrences
0.5252,088 co-occurrences
jiǎn
0.52510,727 co-occurrences
0.5083,018 co-occurrences
0.50017,544 co-occurrences
bǐng
0.4954,476 co-occurrences
guā
0.4771,674 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (17)

bádāoxiāngzhùHSK 6+

to intervene in an injustice; to rush to the rescue

phrase
bǎodāowèilǎoHSK 5+

old but still got it; as vigorous and active as before; just as skilled as when one was young

phrase
dàdāokuòfǔHSK 7+

to handle something with daring and resolve; to be bold and decisive when handling an issue; drastic

phrase
dān dāo fù huìHSK 7+

lit. to go among enemies with only one's sword (idiom); fig. to go alone into enemy lines

phrase
dāogēnghuǒzhòngHSK 7+

slash and burn; slash-and-burn agriculture

noun
dāo guāng jiàn yǐngHSK 6+

lit. flash of knives and swords (idiom); fig. intense conflict

phrase
héngdāoduó'àiHSK 6+

to rob somebody of something or someone they cherish

phrase
jièdāoshārénHSK 6+

to get someone else to do one's dirty work; to attack someone using the strength of another

phrase
mó dāo huò huòHSK 7+

lit. to sharpen one's sword (idiom); fig. to prepare to attack; to be getting ready for battle

phrase
xīnrúdāogēHSK 6+

to be heartbroken

phrase
xīn rú dāo jiǎoHSK 7+

to feel a pain like a knife being twisted in one's heart (idiom)

phrase
dāo jù dǐng huòHSK 7+

knife, saw and cauldron; ancient instruments of torture; fig. torture

phrase

Showing 12 of 17 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字的意思与它的部首有关。

zhè gě dāo zì de yì sī yú tā de bù shǒu yǒu guān .

The meaning of the character "刀" is related to its radical.

中時新聞網Feb 2026

...购条例将审查 国民党:确保每分预算都用在口上

. . . gòu tiáo lì jiāng shěn chá guó mín dǎng : què bǎo měi fēn yù suàn dōu yòng zài dāo kǒu shàng

... The purchase regulations will be reviewed by the Kuomintang: ensure that every cent of the budget is used on the edge of the knife

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

消息:暂停电动车首次登记税宽减非一切 有信心无碍政策目标

xiāo xī : zàn tíng diàn dòng chē shǒu cì dēng jì shuì kuān jiǎn fēi yī dāo qiē yǒu xìn xīn wú ài zhèng cè mù biāo

News: The suspension of the first registration tax for electric vehicles is not one-size-fits-all, and I am confident that it will not hinder the policy goal

三立新聞網Feb 2026

65岁林瑞阳惊传胸腔动!张庭回应了

6 5 suì lín ruì yáng jīng chuán xiōng qiāng dòng dāo ! zhāng tíng huí yīng le

65-year-old Lin Ruiyang was shocked to hear that he had a chest knife! Zhang Ting responded

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

陈伟智:人生还在战斗的九把─《功夫》是不是你还期待的那个模样?

chén wěi zhì : rén shēng hái zài zhàn dǒu de jiǔ bǎ dāo gōng fū shì bù shì nǐ hái qī dài de nà gè mó yàng ?

Chen Weizhi: The nine knives that are still fighting in life - is "Kung Fu" the look you are still looking forward to?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...容易上当...狮子投资被骗、他被熟人捅一

. . . róng yì shàng dāng . . . shī zǐ tóu zī bèi piàn , tā bèi shú rén tǒng yī dāo

... Easy to be fooled... Lion Investment was deceived, and he was stabbed by an acquaintance

Tatoeba

书桌上有一把剪

Shūzhuō shàng yǒu yī bǎ jiǎndāo.

There is a pair of scissors on the desk.

Tatoeba

这把锋很利。

Zhè bǎ dāo de dāofēng hěn lì.

The knife has a keen blade.

Tatoeba

她得知父亲突然离世,不禁心如割。

Tā dézhī fùqīn tūrán líshì, bù jìn xīnrúdāogē.

She was filled with deep grief to hear of her father's sudden death.

Tatoeba

它可以被当成一把来用。

Tā kěyǐ bèi dàngchéng yī bǎ dāo lái yòng.

It can be used as a knife.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced dāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 刀 (dāo) mean in Chinese?
刀 (dāo) primarily means "knife." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1066 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 刀 have?
刀 is written with 2 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 刀?
The radical associated with 刀 is 刂 (knife). In fact, 刀 is itself the full form of this radical — the simplified radical form 刂 appears as a component in many related characters.
What are the components of 刀?
刀 is composed of: 丿 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 刀?
Common words with 刀 include: 剪刀 (jiǎn dāo, "scissors"); 刀子 (dāo zi, "knife"); 刀锋 (dāo fēng, "cutting edge or point of a knife, sword or tool"); 剃刀 (tì dāo, "razor"); 小刀 (xiǎo dāo, "knife"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 刀 (dāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dāo: 叨 (garrulous), 导 (to transmit), 岛 (island), 捣 (to pound), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 刀 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 刀 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.