(dòu): legume, pulse, bean, pea (variant of 豆), legume, pulse, bean, pea, (old) stemmed cup or bowl

(dòu) is a Chinese character meaning “legume.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1776 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, an old serving dish 口 on a stand with a lid 一. Its radical form (bean) appears in many related characters.

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. legume
  2. pulse
  3. bean
  4. pea (variant of 豆)
  5. legume
  6. pulse
  7. bean
  8. pea
  9. (old) stemmed cup or bowl

Etymology & Origin

pictographicAn old serving dish 口 on a stand with a lid 一

Decomposition: ⿳一口⿱丷一 (layout: top-middle-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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
nountǔ dòupotato ()5
noundòu futofu5
noundòu jiāngsoy milk5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
dòu zibean
wān dòupea (Pisum sativum)
dà dòusoybean
kā fēi dòucoffee beans
dòu nǎisoy milk
dòu bāosteamed bun with sweetened bean paste filling
绿lǜ dòumung bean
huáng dòusoybean
dòu jiápod (of legumes)
hóng dòuazuki bean
dòu yábean sprout
dòu shāsweetened bean paste
qīng dòugreen soybean
biǎn dòuhyacinth bean
dòu kòucardamom (Elettaria cardamomum)
100
Total compounds
51
As first character
39
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 51 as the first character, 39 as the last, and 10 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.

0.66920,038 co-occurrences
bàn
0.6045,658 co-occurrences
hān
0.5821,908 co-occurrences
0.54112,402 co-occurrences
0.4862,292 co-occurrences
fēi
0.4783,174 co-occurrences
dùn
0.477342 co-occurrences
0.4743,318 co-occurrences
chòu
0.4671,434 co-occurrences
jiāng
0.451879 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

dòu zhā nǎo jīnHSK 7+

idiot; porridge head

phrase
jiā cháng dòu fuHSK 5+

home-style tofu

phrase
mápó dòufuHSK 5+

mapo doufu, a Sichuan dish made of stir-fried beancurd in chili sauce

noun
绿zhīma lǜdòuHSK 7+

not worth mentioning; of little significance

adjective
xìngrén dòufuHSK 7+

annin tofu; almond tofu

noun
zhǔdòuránqíHSK 5+

to have a fratricidal strife; to have a fight between one's own men

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě dòu zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "豆" had different meanings in ancient Chinese.

東方日報Feb 2026

伊能静挑战喝北京汁 皱眉苦喊:不行了

yī néng jìng tiāo zhàn hē běi jīng dòu zhī zhòu méi kǔ hǎn : bù háng le

Yi Nengjing challenged to drink Beijing bean juice and frowned and shouted: No way

99 健康网Feb 2026

无糖食品有哪些东西?代糖饼干、无糖浆、黑巧算吗

wú táng shí pǐn yǒu nǎ xiē dōng xī ? dài táng bǐng gān , wú táng dòu jiāng , hēi qiǎo suàn ma

What are the sugar-free foods? Sugar substitute biscuits, sugar-free soy milk, black calculations?

99 健康网Feb 2026

不升糖的食品有哪些?绿叶菜、鸡蛋、腐几乎不升糖吗

bù shēng táng de shí pǐn yǒu nǎ xiē ? lǜ xié cài , jī dàn , dòu fǔ jī hū bù shēng táng ma

What are the foods that do not raise blood sugar? Green leafy vegetables, eggs, and tofu hardly raise sugar

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

“超级皖”美食争霸赛总决赛收官 腐发源地淮南夺冠

chāo jí 皖 měi shí zhēng bà sài zǒng jué sài shōu guān dòu fǔ fā yuán dì huái nán duó guàn

The finals of the "Super Anhui" Food Championship ended with Huainan, the birthplace of tofu, winning the championship

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

《异能》金度勋疑吃Karina腐!被目击揉她手指 亲喊冤:我手痒

yì néng jīn dù xūn yí chī K a r i n a dòu fǔ ! bèi mù jī róu tā shǒu zhǐ qīn hǎn yuān : wǒ shǒu yǎng

"Superpower" Kim Do-hoon suspected of eating Karina tofu! was witnessed rubbing her fingers and shouting injustice: My hands itch

Tatoeba

种瓜得瓜,种

Zhòng guā dé guā, zhòng dòu dé dòu.

You reap what you sow.

Tatoeba

这个汤里有胡萝卜、洋葱、欧芹、芹菜和土

Zhège tāng lǐ yǒu húluóbo, yángcōng, ōuqín, qíncài hé tǔdòu.

In this soup there are carrots, onions, parsley, celery and potatoes.

Tatoeba

和胡萝卜是做汤的常见配料。

Wāndòu hé húluóbo shì zuò tāng de chángjiàn pèiliào.

Peas and carrots are common ingredients in soups.

Tatoeba

洋葱比土煮得更快些。

Yángcōng bǐ tǔdòu zhǔ de gèng kuài xiē.

Onions cook more quickly than potatoes.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced dòu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 豆 (dòu) mean in Chinese?
豆 (dòu) primarily means "legume." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1776 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 豆 have?
豆 is written with 7 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 豆?
The radical associated with 豆 is 豆 (bean). This radical appears in many characters related to bean.
What are the components of 豆?
豆 is composed of: 一 (structural), 口 (structural), undefined (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿳一口⿱丷一 with a top-middle-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 豆?
Common words with 豆 include: 土豆 (tǔ dòu, "potato ()"); 豆子 (dòu zi, "bean"); 豆腐 (dòu fu, "tofu"); 豌豆 (wān dòu, "pea (Pisum sativum)"); 大豆 (dà dòu, "soybean"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 豆 (dòu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dòu: 兜 (pocket), 抖 (to tremble), 陡 (steep), 斗 (abbr. for the Big Dipper constellation 北斗星), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 豆 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 豆 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.