Writing Balance Rule: The outer shelter (广) must gracefully arch over the inner components (廿 and 又) without crushing them, leaving enough breathing room underneath.
1. Meaning
degree (unit of measure for temperature, angles, etc.)
to pass or spend (time)limit or extentkilowatt-hour (electricity unit)classifier for occurrences or events
Airflow Tactile Test: No puff of air. Tissue remains still (sounds like English 't' in 'stop').
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip pressed lightly against the alveolar ridge behind the upper front teeth.
Final Rhyme
u
Vowel Group: -u vowel group
Sounds like: oo as in boot
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'oo'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T4 (51)
5 → 1 (51)
4th Tone (High-Falling)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply downward, identical to an authoritative English command like 'Stop!' or 'Go!'.
Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 4 syllable, the tone shifts to a half-falling tone (around 53 or 41).
👂
Listening trap: Confusing the sharp falling Tone 4 (du4) with Tone 1 (dū) or Tone 3 (dǔ). Remember that Tone 4 starts high and drops immediately.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Make a sharp, chopping motion straight down with your hand, mirroring the falling pitch of Tone 4.
3. Writing
Topology: Semi-enclosure · Strokes: 9 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The outer shelter (广) must gracefully arch over the inner components (廿 and 又) without crushing them, leaving enough breathing room underneath.
4. Components
Radical广 · shelter radical (building or cliff shelter)
Semantic Clue (形旁):广 (provides the spatial/roof conceptual setting)
Phonetic Clue (声旁):𣏂 (original sound: du)
Under a sheltering roof (广), a hand (又) measures twenty (廿) units of harvested goods to set a standard limit or degree.
广 shelter / building
廿 twenty
又 right hand
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
4· Phonetic Root: 度 (dù)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Originally derived from a phonetic borrowing where the ancient form represented a standard measure or limit under a roof.
Semantic Evolution: Shifted from a physical standard of measurement and limits under state oversight to general degrees of temperature, angles, and the metaphorical passing of time.
In ancient China, standard weights and measures were kept securely inside government buildings under a roof (广).
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
độ
Corresponds to the Vietnamese nặng tone, matching the abrupt, plunging quality of Mandarin Tone 4.
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ド (do) / ト (to) / Kun: たが.う (tag.u)
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
도
Sound Shift Bridge: The initial 'd-' and vowel rhyme remain remarkably stable across East Asian linguistic borrowings (Sino-Xenic readings).
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Inside a sheltered warehouse (广), a clerk uses his hand (又) to measure out twenty (廿) degrees of temperature for the climate chamber.
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
渡
dùto cross over, ferryAdd water (氵) to indicate crossing over water.
镀
dùto electroplate, coatAdd metal (钅) to indicate coating metal.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
渡(dù)
渡 has the water radical (氵) because it means crossing a river, whereas 度 uses the shelter radical (广).
席(xí)
席 has a towel/cloth component (巾) inside the shelter, while 度 has twenty and a hand (廿又).
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
今天气温高达三十五[___]。
Clue: dù
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing 度 (dù - degree) with 渡 (dù - to cross), missing the essential water radical when writing about traveling across rivers.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: When you see '度', what are three primary English meanings you should recall?
Production: How do you write the character for 'degree' (dù) starting with the shelter radical?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
Search theme
Accent preference
Results are live YouTube search — accents and levels aren't verified.
度dùdegree, to spend, measure
Speed:
Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...