(dǎo): to dance, to tread

(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 (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2532 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

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

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to dance, to tread

Etymology & Origin

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 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
nounwǔ dǎodance (performance art)5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
chóng dǎo fù zhélit. to follow in the tracks of an overturned cart (idiom)
xún guī dǎo jǔto follow the compass and go with the set square (idiom)
wǔ dǎo jiādancer
fù tāng dǎo huǒlit. to jump into scalding water and plunge into raging fire (idiom)
shǒu wǔ zú dǎolit. to move one's hands and feet about (idiom)
gāo jǔ yuǎn dǎoto leave office for a high and distant place (idiom)
běi jīng wǔ dǎo xué yuànBeijing Dance Academy
mín jiān wǔ dǎofolk dance
dǎo cháng xí gùfollow the same old path (idiom)
mín zú wǔ dǎofolk dance
fā yáng dǎo lìsee 發揚踔厲|发扬踔厉[fa1 yang2 chuo1 li4]
chóng dǎo(fig.) to follow (a path that has proved ill-advised)
gāo dǎoto travel far
hēng dīng dùn wǔ dǎo zhèngHuntington's disease
hēng tíng dùn wǔ dǎo zhèngHuntington's disease
16
Total compounds
6
As first character
44
As last character
50
As middle character

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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.822165,188 co-occurrences
zhé
0.506462 co-occurrences
0.3831,938 co-occurrences
0.375816 co-occurrences
0.3684,422 co-occurrences
0.359600 co-occurrences
yǎn
0.35512,276 co-occurrences
shì
0.3494,302 co-occurrences
xún
0.337822 co-occurrences
0.332918 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

dǎochángxígùHSK 7+

to follow old rules or traditions and not be flexible

phrase
fā yáng dǎo lìHSK 5+

see 發揚踔厲|发扬踔厉[fa1 yang2 chuo1 li4]

phrase
fùtāngdǎohuǒHSK 7+

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

phrase
gāo jǔ yuǎn dǎoHSK 5+

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

phrase
xúnguīdǎojǔHSK 6+

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

phrase
chóngdǎofùzhéHSK 7+

to repeat the same mistake; to recommit the same error

verb

Showing 6 of 7 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

她学习舞已经十年了,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

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Mar 2026

神韵演员舞协调同步 欧洲舞亚军钦佩

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

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

全国学生舞比赛完赛 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

WorldjournalMar 2026

川普:不担心会重“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,新娘应该循规矩。

Gēnjù xísú, xīnniáng yīnggāi xúnguīdǎojǔ.

According to custom, the bride should be compliant.

Tatoeba

葵成为一个舞家。

Kuí chéngwéi yī gè wǔdǎojiā.

Aoi became a dancer.

Tatoeba

贝蒂是一个舞老师。

Bèi dì shì yī gè wǔdǎo lǎoshī.

Betty is a dancing teacher.

Tatoeba

我不知道那种舞

Wǒ bù zhīdào nàzhǒng wǔdǎo.

I do not know that dance.

Character Family

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: 刀 (knife), 叨 (garrulous), 导 (to transmit), 岛 (island), and 4 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 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.