堕 (duò): to fall, to sink, (fig.) to degenerate

堕 (duò) is a Chinese character meaning “to fall.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 陏 (phonetic) and 土 (semantic). It ranks #2537 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 堕 earth. Its radical form 土 (earth) appears in many related characters such as 在 (zài, to exist), 地 (dì, earth, ground), 场 (chǎng, field, place).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to fall
  2. to sink
  3. (fig.) to degenerate

Etymology & Origin

堕

pictophoneticearth

Decomposition: ⿱陏土 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
堕落verbduò luòto degrade
堕胎verbduò tāito induce an abortion
如堕五里雾中phraserú duò wǔ lǐ wù zhōngas if lost in a thick fog (idiom)
自甘堕落phrasezì gān duò luòto abandon oneself (idiom)
堕云雾中duò yún wù zhōng(lit.) to become lost in a fog (idiom)
如堕烟雾rú duò yān wùas if degenerating into smoke (idiom)
呱呱堕地phrasegū gū duò dìsee 呱呱墜地|呱呱坠地
堕楼verbduò lóuto jump to one's death
8
Total compounds
50
As first character
0
As last character
50
As middle character

堕 appears in 8 compound words: 50 as the first character, 0 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 堕 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

胎tāi
0.7123,248 co-occurrences
微wēi
0.58065 co-occurrences
坪píng
0.52410 co-occurrences
落luò
0.5082,046 co-occurrences
少shǎo
0.49774 co-occurrences
茂mào
0.48212 co-occurrences
惜xī
0.46911 co-occurrences
钱qián
0.45950 co-occurrences
泪lèi
0.45678 co-occurrences
骗piàn
0.44719 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

堕云雾中duò yún wù zhōngHSK 7+

(lit.) to become lost in a fog (idiom); (fig.) at a complete loss

phrase
自甘堕落zìgānduòluòHSK 7+

to abandon oneself to vice; to willingly fall into degeneracy or depravity

phrase
呱呱堕地gūgūduòdìHSK 7+

synonym of 呱呱墜地 /呱呱坠地 (gūgūzhuìdì, “(of a baby) to be born”)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

堕豆是东北地区的主要农作物之一。

duò dòu shì dōng běi dì ōu de zhǔ yāo nóng zuò wù zhī yī .

Soybeans are one of the primary crops in the Northeast region.

StheadlineFeb 2026

珍惜生命|秀茂坪顺利邨45岁妇堕楼 昏迷送院抢救不治

zhēn xī shēng mìng xiù mào píng shùn lì 邨 4 5 suì fù duò lóu hūn mí sòng yuàn qiǎng jiù bù zhì

Cherish Life|A 45-year-old woman fell from a building in Shunli Estate of Sau Mau Ping and was sent to the hospital in a coma for rescue

東方日報Feb 2026

秀茂坪顺利邨妇人堕楼亡 原因待查

xiù mào píng shùn lì 邨 fù rén duò lóu wáng yuán yīn dài chá

The cause of the death of a woman in Shunli Village, Sau Mau Ping, who fell from a building is to be investigated

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

水牢性侵强迫堕胎样样来 联合国痛批东南亚诈骗园区惨绝人...

shuǐ láo xìng qīn qiáng pò duò tāi yàng yàng lái lián gě guó tòng pī dōng nán yà zhà piàn yuán qū cǎn jué rén . . .

The United Nations criticizes the Southeast Asian fraud park as horrific...

東方日報Feb 2026

父亲睹儿子从阳台堕下 伸手成功接住

fù qīn dǔ ér zǐ cóng yáng tái duò xià shēn shǒu chéng gōng jiē zhù

The father saw his son fall from the balcony and reached out to catch it

Tatoeba

你支持还是反对堕胎?

Nǐ zhīchí háishi fǎnduì duòtāi?

Are you for or against abortion?

Tatoeba

你不要自甘堕落。

Nǐ bù yào zìgānduòluò.

You don't have to kick yourself.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced duò

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 堕 (duò) mean in Chinese?
堕 (duò) primarily means "to fall." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2537 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 堕 and 起?
堕 (duò) and 起 (qǐ) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 堕 (fall) vs 起 (rise).
How many strokes does 堕 have?
堕 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 堕?
The radical associated with 堕 is 土 (earth). This radical appears in many characters related to earth.
What are the components of 堕?
堕 is composed of: 陏 (phonetic), 土 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱陏土 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 堕?
Common words with 堕 include: 堕落 (duò luò, "to degrade"); 堕胎 (duò tāi, "to induce an abortion"); 如堕五里雾中 (rú duò wǔ lǐ wù zhōng, "as if lost in a thick fog (idiom)"); 自甘堕落 (zì gān duò luò, "to abandon oneself (idiom)"); 堕云雾中 (duò yún wù zhōng, "(lit.) to become lost in a fog (idiom)"). There are over 8 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 堕 (duò)?
Several characters share the pronunciation duò: 多 (many), 夺 (to seize), 躲 (to hide), 朵 (flower), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 堕 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 堕 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 堕 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.