陀 (tuó): (phonetic), declivity, steep bank

陀 (tuó) is a Chinese character meaning “(phonetic).” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 阝 (phonetic) and 它 (semantic). It ranks #2941 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 陀 hill. Its radical form 阝 (mound) appears in many related characters such as 那 (nà, (specifier) that), 都 (dōu, all), 院 (yuàn, courtyard).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (phonetic)
  2. declivity
  3. steep bank

Etymology & Origin

陀

pictophonetichill

Decomposition: ⿰阝它 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
陀螺nountuó luóspinning top
直布罗陀zhí bù luó tuóGibraltar
阿弥陀佛proper-nounē mí tuó fóAmitabha Buddha
比勒陀利亚proper-nounbǐ lè tuó lì yàPretoria, capital of South Africa
佛陀proper-nounfó tuóBuddha (a person who has attained Buddhahood, or specifically Siddhartha Gautama)
陀思妥也夫斯基tuó sī tuǒ yě fū sī jīFyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881), great Russian novelist, author of Crime and Punishment 罪與罰|罪与罚[Zui4 yu3 F...
陀思妥耶夫斯基proper-nountuó sī tuǒ yē fū sī jīFyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881), great Russian novelist, author of Crime and Punishment 罪與罰|罪与罚
因陀罗proper-nounyīn tuó luóIndra (a Hindu deity)
阿弥陀如来proper-nounē mí tuó rú láiAmitabha, Buddha of infinite light
直布罗陀海峡proper-nounzhí bù luó tuó hǎi xiáStrait of Gibraltar
阿难陀proper-nounē nán tuóPrince Ananda, cousin of the Buddha and his closest disciple
李维史陀lǐ wéi shǐ tuóClaude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009), French social anthropologist
普陀区pǔ tuó qūPutuo district, central Shanghai
布洛陀proper-nounbù luò tuócreator god of the Zhuang minority 壯族|壮族
普陀山proper-nounpǔ tuó shānMt Potala at Zhoushan 舟山市 in Zhejiang, one of the Four Sacred Mountains and Bodhimanda of Guanyin 觀音|观音 (Avalokiteśvara)
35
Total compounds
14
As first character
46
As last character
40
As middle character

陀 appears in 35 compound words: 14 as the first character, 46 as the last, and 40 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

阿弥陀佛Ēmítuófó

Amitābha; An expression for praying to Buddha for protection or thanksgiving.

南普陀寺Nánpǔtuósì

Nanputuo Temple (a Buddhist temple in Siming district, Xiamen, Fujian, China); South Putuo Temple

直布罗陀zhí bù luó tuó

Gibraltar

phrase

Example Sentences

少数派Sep 2026

当地的解释中,释迦如来对应过去,药师如来寄托着对现世的祈愿,而阿弥陀如来则指向来世。

dāng dì de jiě shì zhōng , shì 迦 rú lái duì yīng guò qù , yào shī rú lái jì tuō zhe duì xiàn shì de qí yuàn , ér ā mí tuó rú lái zé zhǐ xiàng lái shì .

According to local interpretations, Shakyamuni Buddha represents the past, the Medicine Buddha embodies hopes for the present, and Amitabha Buddha points toward the afterlife.

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

其中,富阳、诸暨、苍南、普陀四支队伍凭借稳定发挥,以全胜战绩连续两年跻身省赛舞台。

qí zhōng , fù yáng , zhū jì , cāng nán , pǔ tuó sì zhī duì wǔ píng jiè wěn dìng fā huī , yǐ quán shèng zhàn jì lián xù liǎng nián 跻 shēn shěng sài wǔ tái .

Among them, the four teams from Fuyang, Zhuji, Cangnan, and Putuo advanced to the provincial competition for the second consecutive year with undefeated records, thanks to their consistent performance.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

总台记者 张卓雅: 可能很多中国观众看到眼前的陀螺都会相视一笑。

zǒng tái jì zhě zhāng zhuó yǎ : kě néng hěn duō zhōng guó guān zhòng kàn dào yǎn qián de tuó luó dōu huì xiāng shì yī xiào .

CCTV Reporter Zhang Zhuoya: Many Chinese viewers might exchange a smile when they see the spinning top right here.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

喧嚣退去,侯宇的生活一如往常,依旧每天练功、筹备演出……像陀螺一样停不下来。

xuān xiāo tuì qù , hóu yǔ de shēng huó yī rú wǎng cháng , yī jiù měi tiān liàn gōng , chóu bèi yǎn chū xiàng tuó luó yī yàng tíng bù xià lái .

Once the commotion died down, Hou Yu’s life returned to normal—he continued to practice every day and prepare for performances… spinning like a top, never stopping.

少数派Aug 2026

它也没有基于陀螺仪的头部追踪功能。

tā yě méi yǒu jī yú tuó luó yí de tóu bù zhuī zōng gōng néng .

It also lacks gyroscope-based head tracking.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 陀 (tuó) mean in Chinese?
陀 (tuó) primarily means "(phonetic)." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #2941 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 陀 and 耶?
陀 (tuó) and 耶 (yē) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 阝 vs 耳 (same 阝 component).
How many strokes does 陀 have?
陀 is written with 7 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 陀?
The radical associated with 陀 is 阝 (mound). This radical appears in many characters related to mound.
What are the components of 陀?
陀 is composed of: 阝 (phonetic), 它 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰阝它 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 陀?
Common words with 陀 include: 陀螺 (tuó luó, "spinning top"); 直布罗陀 (zhí bù luó tuó, "Gibraltar"); 阿弥陀佛 (ē mí tuó fó, "Amitabha Buddha"); 比勒陀利亚 (bǐ lè tuó lì yà, "Pretoria, capital of South Africa"); 佛陀 (fó tuó, "Buddha (a person who has attained Buddhahood, or specifically Siddhartha Gautama)"). There are over 35 compound words containing this character.
Is 陀 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 陀 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 陀 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.