(duō): many, much, more, a lot of, too many, in excess, (after a numeral) ... odd

(duō) is a Chinese character meaning “many.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #61 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, two nights 夕, suggesting many. Its radical form (evening) appears in many related characters such as (wài, outside), (, night), (gòu, enough (sufficient)).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. many
  2. much
  3. more
  4. a lot of
  5. too many
  6. in excess
  7. (after a numeral) ... odd

Etymology & Origin

ideographicTwo nights 夕, suggesting many

Decomposition: ⿱夕夕 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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
duō shǎonumber1
adjective/adverbchà bu duōalmost3
adverbduō mehow (wonderful etc)4
numeralxǔ duōmany4
numeralhǎo duōmany3
verbduō kuīthanks to6
nounduō shùmajority4
verb/adjectiveduō yúsuperfluous6
adjectivezhòng duōnumerous5
adverbdà duōfor the most part5
duō cái duō yìmultitalented6
adjectivezhū duō(used for abstract things) a good deal, a lot of6
fēng fù duō cǎirichly colorful5
nounduō méi tǐmultimedia6
adjectiveduō yàngdiverse4
adjectiveduō yuánpoly-6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
duō jiǔ(of time) how long?
duō xièmany thanks
duō niánmany years
duō cìmany times
duō duōmany
duō bànmost
duō yímistrustful
duō zuǐtalkative
duō zhǒngmany kinds of
dǐng duōat most
duō lìDolly (1996-2003), female sheep, first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell
duō chóngmulti- (faceted, cultural, ethnic etc)
duō fóDover
duō biànfickle
duō qíngaffectionate
100
Total compounds
85
As first character
14
As last character
1
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 85 as the first character, 14 as the last, and 1 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.

0.655453,217 co-occurrences
hěn
0.556376,543 co-occurrences
gēng
0.497341,250 co-occurrences
shǔ
0.496320,280 co-occurrences
zhòng
0.46094,398 co-occurrences
0.458432,546 co-occurrences
yǒu
0.417723,546 co-occurrences
zhū
0.41233,924 co-occurrences
zhǒng
0.411148,488 co-occurrences
zuì
0.405345,786 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (56)

bólìduōxiāoHSK 5+

to sell at low prices to obtain small profits but quick returns

phrase
biànhuàduōduānHSK 6+

varied; changeable; capable of being changed in a variety of ways

phrase
BōduōlígèHSK 7+

Puerto Rico (a commonwealth, island and dependent territory of the United States in the Caribbean)

bó wén duō shíHSK 4+

learned and erudite; knowledgeable and experienced

phrase
bó wù duō wénHSK 4+

wide and knowledgeable; well-informed and experienced

phrase
bóxuéduōcáiHSK 4+

learned and multitalented

phrase
dédàoduōzhùHSK 3+

A just cause attracts much support.

phrase
duōcáiduōyìHSK 4+

to possess a great deal of different skills and talents

phrase
姿duōcǎiduōzīHSK 5+

colorful; many-faceted

phrase
duō chóu duō bìngHSK 6+

much sorrows and illness (idiom); melancholy and weakly

phrase
duōchóushàngǎnHSK 6+

melancholy and moody; depressed personality

phrase
duōcǐyījǔHSK 4+

an extraneous move; a useless action

phrase

Showing 12 of 56 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个城市有很博物馆,每个周末都可以去不同的地方参观。

Zhè gè chéngshì yǒu hěn duō bówùguǎn, měi gè zhōumò dōu kěyǐ qù bùtóng de dìfang cānguān.

This city has many museums, and every weekend you can visit different places.

百度新闻Feb 2026

机器人春晚PK赛:热闹之余,想三个问题 | 视频

jī qì rén chūn wǎn sài rè nào zhī yú , duō xiǎng sān gě wèn tí shì pín

Robot Spring Festival PK Match: Three Questions to Ask While You're Watching | VIDEO

百度新闻Feb 2026

忻州市房地产市场项指标居全省首位

忻 zhōu shì fáng dì chǎn shì chǎng duō xiàng zhǐ biāo jū quán shěng shǒu wèi

Xinzhou real estate market tops the province in a number of indicators

百度新闻Feb 2026

这场新春之约,让更家庭感受到浓浓暖意

zhè chǎng xīn chūn zhī yāo , ràng gēng duō jiā tíng gǎn shòu dào nóng nóng nuǎn yì

This New Year's date will make more families feel the warmth.

百度新闻Feb 2026

川AG大军注意!雅西高速成都往西昌方向路段车缓..

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 ...

百度新闻Feb 2026

...春晚与沈腾马丽同框的机器人 在全国100个地方..

. . . chūn wǎn yú 沈 téng mǎ lí tóng kuàng de jī qì rén zài quán guó duō gě dì fāng . .

... The robot that shared the frame with Shen Teng and Ma Li at the Spring Festival Gala is in more than 100 places across the country...

Tatoeba

这个班有少男生?

Zhège bān yǒu duōshao nánshēng?

How many boys are in this class?

Tatoeba

大概会花少时间?

Dàgài huì huā duōshao shíjiān?

About how long will it take?

Tatoeba

你会在这里逗留久?

Nǐ huì zài zhèlǐ dòuliú duōjiǔ?

How long will you stay here?

Tatoeba

你来上海少时间了?

Nǐ lái Shànghǎi duōshao shíjiān le?

For how long are you in Shanghai?

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the evening radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced duō

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 多 (duō) mean in Chinese?
多 (duō) primarily means "many." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #61 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 多 have?
多 is written with 6 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 多?
The radical associated with 多 is 夕 (evening). This radical appears in many characters related to evening.
What are the components of 多?
多 is composed of: 夕 (structural), 夕 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱夕夕 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 多?
Common words with 多 include: 多少 (duō shǎo, "number"); 多久 (duō jiǔ, "(of time) how long?"); 差不多 (chà bu duō, "almost"); 多么 (duō me, "how (wonderful etc)"); 多谢 (duō xiè, "many thanks"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 多 (duō)?
Several characters share the pronunciation duō: 哆 (used in 哆嗦), 夺 (to seize), 朵 (flower), 躲 (to hide), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 多 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 多 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.