The knife radical — 刀 (dāo)
A knife with a curved blade. On the right of a character it straightens into 刂, and it then marks cutting, separating and sharpness: 别 (to separate, don't), 割 (to cut), 利 (sharp, profit), 初 (first — cutting cloth).
At a glance
- Radical
- 刀
- Pinyin
- dāo
- Meaning
- Knife
- Strokes
- 2 (1–2 strokes section)
- Related form
- 刂 The combining shape, or the traditional character it came from.
Stroke order
Characters built on 刀
Every character below contains 刀 (or its other form 刂). Meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the translator, so you can look any of them up in full there.
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刀 — frequently asked questions
What does the Chinese radical 刀 mean?
刀 is pronounced dāo and means "knife". It is written in 2 strokes. A knife with a curved blade. On the right of a character it straightens into 刂, and it then marks cutting, separating and sharpness: 别 (to separate, don't), 割 (to cut), 利 (sharp, profit), 初 (first — cutting cloth).
Which characters use the 刀 radical?
Common examples include 别 (bié, Depart (distinguish - do not - to pin - other)), 到 (dào, To (arrive - go to)), 刻 (kè, Engrave (harsh - extreme)), 剧 (jù, Drama (play - show - severe)). This page lists 10 of them with pinyin, meanings and audio.
How many strokes does 刀 have?
2. Radical dictionaries file it in the 1–2 strokes section, which is how you look up an unfamiliar character when you cannot guess its pronunciation.
What is the difference between 刀 and 刂?
They are the same radical in two shapes. 刂 is the related form — either the full character that 刀 is a squeezed side form of, or the traditional character the simplified radical came from. Both are filed under the same radical, and both mean knife.
Other 2-stroke radicals
Keep going
Watch any of these characters being written in the Stroke Order Animator, practise them on printable 田字格 sheets, hunt radicals against the clock in Radical Hunt, or read the background in The 100 Most Common Chinese Radicals and Chinese Character Etymology.