道 — how to write the kanji for “road-way”
道 means “road-way”, “street” and “district”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in second grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 207th most used kanji. Its ⻌ (“walking”) sits on the left but is written last, strokes 10–12 of 12. KANJIDIC2 files it under the radical 辵 (“walk”). On its own it is the word michi, “road; path”. Its common words take the reading dou: 報道 (“report”), 北海道 (“Hokkaido…”), 道路 (“road”) and 鉄道 (“railroad”). Chinese reads it dào, “road”, at HSK 1.
- Strokes
- 12
- JLPT
- N4
- Radical
- 辵 (“walk”)
- On
- ドウ, トウ
- Kun
- みち, いう
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Its parts sit one inside another: 首 (“neck”), strokes 1–9; ⻌ (“walking”), strokes 10–12, each finished before the next.
- Dot ㇔topdown and right
- Left-falling stroke ㇒top rightdown and left
- Horizontal ㇐toprightwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topdown and left
- Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
- Horizontal-turn ㇕centerrightwards → downwards
- Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐bottomrightwards
- Dot ㇔top leftdown and right
- Horizontal, turn, turn, left-falling ㇋leftrightwards → downwards → down and left
- Right-falling stroke ㇏bottom leftrightwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 12 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
The trap in 道
Write 首 (“neck”) first, strokes 1–9, and finish with ⻌ (“walking”), strokes 10–12.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Readings
- On (Chinese-derived)
- ドウ dou, トウ tou
- Kun (native)
- みち michi, いう iu (rare)
- Meanings
- road-way; street; district; journey; course; moral
- Read dou
- 報道 北海道 道路 鉄道 都道府県 柔道
- School year
- second grade
- Newspaper rank
- 207th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 도 do
- Common words
- 74 in JMdict
Words with 道
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 報道 | ほうどう houdou | report; reporting |
| 北海道 | ほっかいどう hokkaidou | Hokkaido (island, prefectural-level administrative unit) |
| 道路 | どうろ douro | road; highway |
| 鉄道 | てつどう tetsudou | railroad; railway |
| 都道府県 | とどうふけん todoufuken | prefectures; largest administrative divisions of Japan:… |
| 柔道 | じゅうどう juudou | judo |
| 軌道 | きどう kidou | orbit; trajectory |
| 報道陣 | ほうどうじん houdoujin | press corps |
| 人道 | じんどう jindou | humanity; sidewalk |
| 水道 | すいどう suidou | water supply; water service |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
Same parts:
JLPT N4, in list order: