斗 (dǒu): abbr. for the Big Dipper constellation 北斗星, dry measure for grain equal to ten 升 or one-tenth of a 石, decaliter

斗 (dǒu) is a Chinese character meaning “dry measure for grain equal to ten 升 or one-tenth of a 石.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 十 (structural). It ranks #580 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 斗 a hand holding a measuring dipper. Its radical form 斗 (dipper) appears in many related characters such as 料 (liào, material), 斜 (xié, inclined).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. abbr. for the Big Dipper constellation 北斗星
  2. dry measure for grain equal to ten 升 or one-tenth of a 石
  3. decaliter

Etymology & Origin

斗

ideographicA hand holding a measuring dipper

Components:十structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 斗

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
战斗noun/verbzhàn dòuto fight6
斗争verb/noundòu zhēnga struggle6
奋斗verbfèn dòuto strive5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
打斗verbdǎ dòuto fight
决斗verbjué dòuto duel
斗牛noundòu niúbullfighting
格斗verbgé dòuto wrestle
斗士noundòu shìwarrior
搏斗verbbó dòuto wrestle
争斗verbzhēng dòuto struggle
战斗机nounzhàn dòu jīfighter (aircraft)
斗篷noundǒu pengcloak
斗殴verbdòu ōuto brawl
斗志noundòu zhìwill to fight
烟斗nounyān dǒu(smoking) pipe
北斗proper-nounběi dǒuBig Dipper
好斗adjectivehào dòuto be warlike
斗鸡verbdòu jīcock fighting
100
Total compounds
35
As first character
54
As last character
11
As middle character

斗 appears in 100 compound words: 35 as the first character, 54 as the last, and 11 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 斗 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

战zhàn
0.69379,014 co-occurrences
熨yùn
0.6001,012 co-occurrences
慈cí
0.57917 co-occurrences
篷péng
0.5642,302 co-occurrences
奋fèn
0.5534,032 co-occurrences
争zhēng
0.55027,196 co-occurrences
塘táng
0.52214 co-occurrences
搏bó
0.4991,346 co-occurrences
殴ōu
0.4851,201 co-occurrences
彰zhāng
0.47216 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (26)

傲霜斗雪ào shuāng dòu xuěHSK 7+

see 欺霜傲雪

phrase
八斗之才bā dǒu zhī cáiHSK 5+

see 才高八斗

phrase
北斗七星Běidǒu QīxīngHSK 5+

the Big Dipper; the Plough

才高八斗cáigāobādǒuHSK 5+

of great talent

phrase
车载斗量chēzàidǒuliángHSK 5+

ubiquitous and numerous

phrase
单打独斗dāndǎdúdòuHSK 5+

to fight alone

phrase
斗酒只鸡dǒu jiǔ zhī jīHSK 5+

lit. a chicken and a bottle of wine (idiom); fig. ready to make an offering to the deceased, or to entertain guests

phrase
斗私批修dǒusīpīxiūHSK 5+

to fight selfishness and criticize revisionism

phrase
斗志昂扬dòuzhì'ángyángHSK 6+

to have high morale; to be full of fight; to be militant

phrase
斗转星移dǒuzhuǎnxīngyíHSK 5+

time flies; time passes

phrase
勾心斗角gōuxīndòujiǎoHSK 7+

elaborate and refined; to fight and scheme against each other

phrase
钩心斗角gōu xīn dòu jiǎoHSK 7+

variant of 勾心鬥角|勾心斗角

phrase

Showing 12 of 26 idioms containing 斗.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

斗字由4笔画组成,结构很巧妙。

dǒu zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .

The character "斗" consists of four strokes and has a very ingenious structure.

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刀─《功夫》是不是你还期待的那个模...

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 . . .

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

LtnFeb 2026

激烈4轮PK决胜 彰化慈航宫年度总斗首出炉

jī liè 4 lún P K jué shèng zhāng huà cí háng gōng nián dù zǒng dǒu shǒu chū lú

Fierce 4 rounds of PK decisive Changhua Cihang Palace's annual general fight was released

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

斗湖1小时豪雨引发大水患 轿车险灭顶多路中...

dǒu hú 1 xiǎo shí háo yǔ yǐn fā dà shuǐ huàn jiào chē xiǎn miè dǐng duō lù zhōng . . .

Tawau 1-hour heavy rain caused heavy flooding, and the car was almost destroyed on the road...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

彰化竹塘慈航宫总斗首之争 第三轮PK分胜负 桃园人拿下了

zhāng huà zhú táng cí háng gōng zǒng dǒu shǒu zhī zhēng dì sān lún P K fēn shèng fù táo yuán rén ná xià le

Changhua Zhutang Cihang Palace overall battle third round PK point winner Taoyuan people won

Tatoeba

难民与饥饿作斗争。

Nànmín yǔ jī'è zuò dòuzhēng.

The refugees struggled against hunger.

Tatoeba

警察驱散了这场斗殴。

Jǐngchá qūsàn le zhè chǎng dòu'ōu.

The police broke up the fight.

Tatoeba

囚犯们像疯子一样互相殴斗。

Qiúfàn men xiàng fēngzi yīyàng hùxiāng ōudòu.

The prisoners fought one another like so many mad people.

Tatoeba

汤姆在战斗中死了。

Tāngmǔ zài zhàndòu zhōng sǐ le.

Tom died in combat.

Tatoeba

汤姆分不清游戏与斗争。

Tāngmǔ fēn bù qīng yóuxì yǔ dòuzhēng.

Tom couldn't tell the difference between play and struggle.

Character Family

斗 Radical Family — Characters sharing the dipper radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced dǒu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 斗 (dǒu) mean in Chinese?
斗 (dǒu) primarily means "dry measure for grain equal to ten 升 or one-tenth of a 石." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #580 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 斗 and 些?
斗 (dǒu) and 些 (xiē) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 斗 (big) vs 些 (small).
How many strokes does 斗 have?
斗 is written with 4 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 斗?
The radical associated with 斗 is 斗 (dipper). This radical appears in many characters related to dipper.
What are the components of 斗?
斗 is composed of: 十 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 斗?
Common words with 斗 include: 战斗 (zhàn dòu, "to fight"); 斗争 (dòu zhēng, "a struggle"); 奋斗 (fèn dòu, "to strive"); 打斗 (dǎ dòu, "to fight"); 决斗 (jué dòu, "to duel"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 斗 (dǒu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dǒu: 豆 (legume), 抖 (to tremble), 逗 (to tease (playfully)), 兜 (pocket), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 斗 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 斗 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 斗 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.