刀

🇹🇼🇭🇰🇨🇳🇯🇵🇰🇷

sword

HSK 3 N1

Objects →Tools →Weapons

dāo

トウ

かたな、そり

도

Pictograph of a knife.

Notes

Historical Evolution

Oracle

(~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle

(~1250-1000 BC)

Bronze

Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)

Bronze

Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)

Bronze

Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)

Bronze

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Seal

Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical

Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

刀

Regular

Modern

Chinese

刀 [Dāo]

surname Dao

刀 [dāo]

knife; blade; single-edged sword; cutlass; CL:把[bǎ]; (slang) dollar (loanword); classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper); classifier for knife cuts or stabs

Japanese

刀かたな、とう同音

noun

sword (esp. Japanese single-edged); katana
scalpel
chisel; burin; graver
knife money (knife-shaped commodity money used in ancient China)

Example Sentences

🇯🇵 (1)

「刀の投擲の練習？」「すっぽ抜けただけです」

"Practising sword throwing?" "It just slipped out of my hands."

Japanese Names

刀かたな

Katana surname

刀とう

Tou unclassified name

CHINESE WORDS (200)

cutting edge or point of a knife, sword or tool

刀锋 [dāofēng] #10,843

cutting edge or point of a knife, sword or tool

(of a surgeon) to perform an operation

开刀 [kāidāo] #15,854

(of a surgeon) to perform an operation

190 more items

JAPANESE WORDS (180)

刀身 [とうしん] #9,226

knife blade

単刀直入 [たんとうちょくにゅう] #10,609

straight to the point

⭐ 太刀 [たち] #11,720

long sword (as opposed to the shorter katana)

hand used like a sword in striking

170 more items

KOREAN WORDS (3)

집도 #3,662

surgery; surgical operation