杜 (dù): birchleaf pear (tree), to stop, to prevent
杜 (dù) is a Chinese character meaning “birchleaf pear (tree).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 土 (phonetic). It ranks #1269 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 杜 tree. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).
Definitions
- birchleaf pear (tree)
- to stop
- to prevent
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 杜 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 杜威 | dù wēi | Du Wei (1982-), Shanghai soccer star |
| 杜撰 | dù zhuàn | to fabricate |
| 瓦加杜古 | wǎ jiā dù gǔ | Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso |
| 杜比 | dù bǐ | Dolby (audio technology) |
| 杜拜 | dù bài | Dubai (Tw) |
| 杜绝 | dù jué | to put an end to |
| 杜冷丁 | dù lěng dīng | (medicine) dolantin (loanword) |
| 杜鹃花 | dù juān huā | Indian Azalea (Rhododendron simsii Planch) |
| 杜邦 | dù bāng | DuPont (company) |
| 美杜莎 | měi dù shā | Medusa (monster of Greek mythology) |
| 杜鹃 | dù juān | cuckoo (Cercococcyx spp., also written 杜鵑鳥|杜鹃鸟) |
| 杜塞尔多夫 | dù sài ěr duō fū | Düsseldorf (city in Germany) |
| 杜布罗夫尼克 | dù bù luó fū ní kè | Dubrovnik (city in Croatia) |
| 防微杜渐 | fáng wēi dù jiàn | to nip in the bud (idiom) |
| 阿卜杜拉 | ā bǔ dù lā | Abdullah (name) |
杜 appears in 76 compound words: 74 as the first character, 4 as the last, and 22 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 杜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (10)
a transliteration of the Arabic male given name عَبْد اللّٰه (ʕabd allāh), Abd Allah
(～氏) An ancient Mongolian clan; (～部) Dörbet (Mongolian tribe of Borjigit-clan origin)
(idiom) to shut oneself indoors; to avoid social contact; to cut oneself off from the outside world
to nip in the bud; to put an end to a bad thing or mistake when it germinates
a transliteration of the Arabic male given name عَبْد اللّٰه (ʕabd allāh), Abd Allah
(～氏) An ancient Mongolian clan; (～部) Dörbet (Mongolian tribe of Borjigit-clan origin)
(idiom) to shut oneself indoors; to avoid social contact; to cut oneself off from the outside world
to nip in the bud; to put an end to a bad thing or mistake when it germinates
Example Sentences
爷爷在门前种了一棵杜苗，现在已经长得很高了。
yé yé zài mén qián zhǒng le yī kē dù miáo , xiàn zài yǐ jīng cháng dé hěn gāo le .
Grandpa planted a mulberry sapling by the door, and now it has grown quite tall.
马杜罗要求法庭驳回起诉 称美国阻委内瑞拉政府...
mǎ dù luó yāo qiú fǎ tíng bó huí qǐ sù chèn měi guó zǔ wěi nèi ruì lā zhèng fǔ . . .
Maduro asked the court to dismiss the indictment, saying the United States blocked the Venezuelan government...
上次是抓马杜洛!卢比欧“机密汇报”国会8人帮 谈伊朗...
shàng cì shì zhuā mǎ dù 洛 ! 卢 bǐ ōu jī mì huì bào guó huì 8 rén bāng tán yī lǎng . . .
Last time it was to catch Maduro! Rubio's "confidential report" Congressional Gang of 8 talks about Iran...
...护卫舰启程前往澳大利亚参加2026年卡卡杜多边海上联合军演
. . . hù wèi jiàn qǐ chéng qián wǎng ào dà lì yà cān jiā 2 0 2 6 nián kǎ kǎ dù duō biān hǎi shàng lián gě jūn yǎn
... The frigate departed for Australia to participate in the 2026 Kakadu Multilateral Maritime Joint Military Exercise
...瑞拉外长在联合国人权理事会要求美国释放马杜罗
. . . ruì lā wài cháng zài lián gě guó rén quán lǐ shì huì yāo qiú měi guó shì fàng mǎ dù luó
... Ruri's foreign minister demanded the release of Maduro by the United States at the UN Human Rights Council
韩马利中山大宅跟北方煮锅贴过年 圈中老公杜燕歌系清朝皇族后裔
hán mǎ lì zhōng shān dà zhái gēn běi fāng zhǔ guō tiē guò nián juān zhōng lǎo gōng dù yān gē xì qīng cháo huáng zú hòu yì
Han Mali's Zhongshan mansion cooks potstickers in the north for the New Year, and her husband Du Yange in the circle is a descendant of the Qing Dynasty royal family
他用他的迪吉里杜管勾引了她。
Tāyòng tā de díjílǐdùguǎn gōuyǐn le tā.
He seduced her with his didgeridoo.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 杜 (dù) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 杜 and 吐?
How many strokes does 杜 have?
What is the radical of 杜?
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What are common words containing 杜?
What characters sound the same as 杜 (dù)?
Is 杜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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