舵 (duò): helm, rudder
舵 (duò) is a Chinese character meaning “helm.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 舟 (semantic) and 它 (phonetic). It ranks #2790 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 舵 boat. Its radical form 舟 (boat) appears in many related characters such as 般 (bān, sort), 船 (chuán, boat), 航 (háng, boat).
Definitions
- helm
- rudder
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 舵 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 掌舵 | zhǎng duò | to steer (a ship) |
| 舵手 | duò shǒu | helmsman |
| 把舵 | bǎ duò | to hold the rudder |
| 见风转舵 | jiàn fēng zhuǎn duò | lit. see the wind and set the helm (idiom) |
| 见风使舵 | jiàn fēng shǐ duò | lit. see the wind and set the helm (idiom) |
| 大舵手 | dà duò shǒu | the Great Helmsman (Mao Zedong) |
| 随风倒舵 | suí fēng dǎo duò | to trim one's sails with the wind |
| 顺风转舵 | shùn fēng zhuǎn duò | to act according to whatever is the current outlook |
| 舵把 | duò bǎ | tiller of a boat |
| 操舵室 | cāo duò shì | pilothouse |
| 满舵 | mǎn duò | on full rudder |
| 船舵 | chuán duò | rudder |
| 左舵 | zuǒ duò | left rudder |
| 右舵 | yòu duò | right rudder |
| 舵旁 | duò páng | helm (of a ship) |
舵 appears in 16 compound words: 19 as the first character, 69 as the last, and 13 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 舵 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
to bend with the wind; to change one's position, attitude, behaviour, etc. depending on the situation
to act according to whatever is the current outlook; pragmatic; unprincipled
to bend with the wind; to change one's position, attitude, behaviour, etc. depending on the situation
to act according to whatever is the current outlook; pragmatic; unprincipled
Showing 3 of 4 idioms containing 舵.
Example Sentences
舵字在日常生活中使用频率较低。
duò zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .
The character "舵" is not commonly used in everyday life.
东风风行计划未来三到五年持续投放多款右舵专属车型
dōng fēng fēng háng jì huá wèi lái sān dào wǔ nián chí xù tóu fàng duō kuǎn yòu duò zhuān shǔ chē xíng
Dongfeng Fengxing plans to continue launching multiple right-hand-drive models over the next three to five years
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 舵 (duò) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 舵 and 蛇?
How many strokes does 舵 have?
What is the radical of 舵?
What are the components of 舵?
What are common words containing 舵?
What characters sound the same as 舵 (duò)?
Is 舵 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 舵 with real-time feedback
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