柔道 (róu dào) — judo (martial art) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

judo (martial art)

Measure word · 项

Examples

柔道。
Tā cóng xiǎo jiù kāi shǐ liàn xí róu dào.
He started practicing judo since childhood.
柔道。
róu dào Shì yí xiàng duì shēn tǐ hé yì zhì dōu yǒu yāo qiú de yùn dòng.
Judo is a sport that demands both physical strength and willpower.
柔道。
Tā zài guó jì róu dào bǐ sài zhōng huò dé le yì méi jīn pái.
She won a gold medal in an international judo competition.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

柔róusoft or gentle

柔 means soft or gentle, and 道 means way; together they name the gentle way of judo.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

行行xíngstreet

止止zhǐfoot

Sound part声符shēngfú

𩠐

首shǒu道dào

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Early 道 showed a street 行, a foot 止, and a part written 首 or 𩠐; the right part of 行 later disappeared.

Appears in

Sports & Athletics

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