都 (dōu): all, both, entirely, (used for emphasis) even, already, (not) at all

都 (dōu) is a Chinese character meaning “all.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 者 (phonetic) and 阝 (semantic). It ranks #68 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 都 city. Its radical form 阝 (mound) appears in many related characters such as 那 (nà, (specifier) that), 院 (yuàn, courtyard), 部 (bù, ministry).

Native pronunciation

HSK 1 Radical: 阝 mound11 strokesFrequency #68者 phonetic 阝 semantic

Definitions

all
both
entirely
(used for emphasis) even
already
(not) at all

Etymology & Origin

都

pictophoneticcity

Decomposition: ⿰者阝 (layout: left-right)

Components:者phonetic 阝semantic

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 都

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
全都adverb	quán dōu	all	4
首都noun	shǒu dū	capital (city)	4
都市noun	dū shì	city	6
大都adverb	dà dōu	for the most part	6

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
都会	dū huì	city
大都会	dà dū huì	major city
京都	jīng dū	capital (of a country)
都柏林	dū bó lín	Dublin, capital of Ireland
大都市	dà dū shì	metropolis
都灵	dū líng	Torino
花都	huā dū	see 花都區\|花都区[Hua1 du1 Qu1]
都安	dū ān	see 都安瑤族自治縣\|都安瑶族自治县[Du1 an1 Yao2 zu2 Zi4 zhi4 xian4]
新都	xīn dū	Xindu or Newtown district of Chengdu city 成都市[Cheng2 du1 shi4], Sichuan
盐都	yán dū	see 鹽都區\|盐都区[Yan2 du1 Qu1]
都城	dū chéng	capital city
成都	chéng dū	see 成都市[Cheng2 du1 Shi4]
三都	sān dū	see 三都水族自治縣\|三都水族自治县[San1 du1 Shui3 zu2 Zi4 zhi4 xian4]
建都	jiàn dū	to establish a capital
都市化	dū shì huà	to urbanize

100

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

都 appears in 100 compound words: 25 as the first character, 45 as the last, and 30 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 都 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

京jīng

0.534293,919 co-occurrences

督dū

0.486119,760 co-occurrences

首shǒu

0.476275,580 co-occurrences

御yù

0.47467,938 co-occurrences

是shì

0.446700,224 co-occurrences

市shì

0.433288,252 co-occurrences

有yǒu

0.427565,074 co-occurrences

每měi

0.413111,533 co-occurrences

右yòu

0.40863,540 co-occurrences

很hěn

0.38868,424 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

奥古斯都ÀogǔsīdūHSK 7+

Augustus

宏都拉斯HóngdūlāsīHSK 7+

Honduras (a country in Central America)

洪都拉斯HóngdūlāsīHSK 7+

Honduras (a country in Central America)

兴都库什XīngdūkùshíHSK 5+

Hindu Kush (a mountain range in Afghanistan and Pakistan)

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这些古老的建筑都保存得很好，是这座城市宝贵的文化遗产。

Zhèxiē gǔlǎo de jiànzhù dōu bǎocún de hěn hǎo, shì zhè zuò chéngshì bǎoguì de wénhuà yíchǎn.

These ancient buildings are all well preserved and are valuable cultural heritage of this city.

百度新闻Feb 2026

不到30小时连夺3金!他们的每一滴热泪,都写着“值..

bù dào 3 0 xiǎo shí lián duó 3 jīn ! tā men de měi yī dī rè lèi , dōu xiě zhe zhí . .

Win 3 gold medals in less than 30 hours! Every tear they shed was written "Value:

百度新闻Feb 2026

冬奥会|家乡连线:“最强夫妻档”!电影都不敢这么演..

dōng ào huì jiā xiāng lián xiàn : zuì qiáng fū qī dàng ! diàn yǐng dōu bù gǎn zhè má yǎn . .

Winter Olympics|Hometown Connection: "The Strongest Couple"! The movie doesn't dare to act like this:

百度新闻Feb 2026

视频丨空间站的年夜饭都有什么?听航天员报菜名收祝福

shì pín 丨 kōng jiān zhàn de nián yè fàn dū yǒu shén má ? yǐn háng tiān yuán bào cài míng shōu zhù fú

Video 丨What is the New Year's Eve dinner on the space station? I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make it. I'm going to be able to make it.

百度新闻Feb 2026

和首都女铁骑,做一天朋友

hé shǒu dū nǚ tiě qí , zuò yī tiān péng yǒu

I'll be friends for a day with the Capital Rangers.

百度新闻Feb 2026

川AG大军注意!雅西高速成都往西昌方向多路段车多缓..

chuān dà jūn zhù yì ! yǎ xī gāo sù chéng dū wǎng xī chāng fāng xiàng duō lù duàn chē duō huǎn . .

Sichuan AG army attention! Yaxi Expressway, Chengdu to Xichang direction of many sections of the traffic slow ...

Tatoeba

他们都是一样的吗？

Tāmen dōu shì yīyàng de ma?

Are they all the same?

Tatoeba

你上次去京都是什么时候？

Nǐ shàngcì qù Jīngdū shì shénme shíhou?

When did you visit Kyoto last?

Tatoeba

为什么那么多人访问京都？

Wèishénme nàme duō rén fǎngwèn Jīngdū?

Why do so many people visit Kyoto?

Tatoeba

你星期天都做什么？

Nǐ Xīngqītiān dōu zuò shénme?

What do you do on Sundays?

Character Family

阝 Radical Family — Characters sharing the mound radical

阿ā 隘ài 鄙bǐ 部bù 邓dèng 陡dǒu 防fáng 附fù 隔gé 际jì

Related Characters

那nà 院yuàn 部bù 队duì 阳yáng 阴yīn 际jì 随suí 邮yóu 防fáng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 都 (dōu) mean in Chinese?

都 (dōu) primarily means "all." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #68 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 都 and 煮?

都 (dōu) and 煮 (zhǔ) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 阝 vs 灬 (same 者 component).

How many strokes does 都 have?

都 is written with 11 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 都?

The radical associated with 都 is 阝 (mound). This radical appears in many characters related to mound.

What are the components of 都?

都 is composed of: 者 (phonetic), 阝 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰者阝 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 都?

Common words with 都 include: 全都 (quán dōu, "all"); 首都 (shǒu dū, "capital (city)"); 都会 (dū huì, "city"); 都市 (dū shì, "city"); 大都会 (dà dū huì, "major city"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.

Is 都 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 都 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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