Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical (hand component) slender and slightly higher, while the right phonetic side is balanced and slightly broader.
1. Meaning
to shake, to tremble
to shake out (clothes, dust)to reveal or expose (secrets)to make it in the world (slang/colloquial)
VerbNeutral#physical action#emotions#body movement
Sample Usage
他冷得直发抖。
Tā lěng de zhí fā dǒu.
He is shivering with cold.
把地毯上的灰尘抖掉。
Bǎ dìtǎn shàng de huīchén dǒu diào.
Shake the dust off the carpet.
2. Sound
/[toʊ̯²¹⁴]/Tone: 214
抖
dǒudou3
|
++
ˇ(214)
=dǒu
Build the syllable
Step-by-step blending
dou
Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "o" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).
Initial Consonant
d
Type: Unaspirated Alveolar
Sounds like: d sound like in English 'dog'
Unaspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: No puff of air. Tissue remains still (sounds like English 't' in 'stop').
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge just behind the upper front teeth.
Final Rhyme
ou
Vowel Group: -o vowel group
Sounds like: -ou rhymes with 'oh'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'oh'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T3 (214)
2 → 1 → 4 (214)
3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips low like a sigh of relief before rising back up, matching the lowest pitch in your speaking range.
Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone character, it changes to a 2nd tone (rising 35).
👂
Listening trap: Confusing the 3rd tone dip with a 4th tone sharp drop, causing listeners to mistake 'dǒu' (shake) for other words.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down from your chest and sweep up to your chin.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 7 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical (hand component) slender and slightly higher, while the right phonetic side is balanced and slightly broader.
4. Components
Radical扌 · Hand Radical (Hand actions and manual gestures)
Semantic Clue (形旁):扌 (Indicates actions performed with the hand or arm, such as shaking.)
Phonetic Clue (声旁):斗 (original sound: dǒu)
A hand (扌) holding or operating a measuring scoop (斗), shaking things out or tossing them into the air.
扌 Hand action
斗 Scoop / Phonetic clue
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
4· Phonetic Root: 斗 (dǒu)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) to denote a physical movement, and the measuring cup character (斗) which provides the sound 'dǒu'.
Semantic Evolution: Originally denoting shaking or stirring with the hand, it broadened to mean shivering from cold or fear, and metaphorically 'shaking out' secrets or making a breakthrough.
The right side '斗' originally represented an ancient wine ladle with a handle.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
đẩu
The Chinese 3rd tone corresponds roughly to the Vietnamese hỏi tone.
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: トウ (tō)
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
두
Sound Shift Bridge: The initial 'd' and final '-ou' parallel Germanic-Romance cognates where dental stops match similar European stops.
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
You use your **hand** (扌) to violently **shake** a measuring **scoop** (斗) filled with dice, making them **tremble** and rattle loudly.
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
斗
dǒuabbr. for the Big Dipper constellation 北斗星[Bei3 dou3 xing1]; dry measure for grain equal to ten 升[sheng1] or one-tenth of a 石[dan4]Phonetic Core (声旁)
枓
dǒu(architecture) square wooden bearing block used to support a bracket in a dougong 斗拱[dou3 gong3] bracket system+ 木 (tree)