Writing Balance Rule: The top canopy (木 without the bottom vertical stem) should be wide and umbrella-like, sheltering the curving hook structure underneath.
1. Meaning
flower, blossom
earlobeclassifier for flowers, clouds, flames, and fluffy itemsfig. item on both sides
Noun and ClassifierNeutral#nature#plants#quantifiers#anatomy
Sample Usage
这朵花真漂亮。
Zhè duǒ huā zhēn piàoliang.
This flower is really pretty.
天上有几朵云。
Tiānshàng yǒu jǐ duǒ yún.
There are a few clouds in the sky.
2. Sound
/[tu̯ɔ²¹⁴]/Tone: 214
朵
duǒduo3
|
++
ˇ(214)
=duǒ
Initial Consonant
d
Type: Unaspirated Alveolar
Sounds like: d sound 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 behind the upper front teeth, releasing a light plosive without a puff of air.
Final Rhyme
uo
Vowel Group: -o vowel group
Sounds like: -uo rhymes with 'wô' or 'woah' in English
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'waw'.
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 down like expressing hesitant doubt in English ('Really?'), then rises back up.
Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, duǒ changes to a 2nd tone (35) due to Mandarin third-tone sandhi rules.
👂
Listening trap: Do not confuse the rounded 'uo' final with a pure 'o' or 'e'. Make sure to include the subtle 'u' glide before the 'o'.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down low from mid-height and sweep back up high.
3. Writing
Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 6 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The top canopy (木 without the bottom vertical stem) should be wide and umbrella-like, sheltering the curving hook structure underneath.
4. Components
Radical木 · Tree Radical (Wood, tree, plant)
Semantic Clue (形旁):木 (Indicates plant or organic origin (a flower growing on a tree/plant))
Imagine a tree (木) with a curving branch or drooping bud swaying underneath it, representing a delicate flower hanging from a stem.
木 Tree or plant base at the top
̄ and 乚 The hanging blossom or earlobe shape tucked underneath
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
6· Phonetic Root: 朵 (duǒ)
5. History
Liushu category: Indicative (指事)
Origin: Originally depicted a tree (木) with a special mark or fruit/flower growing on its branches or hanging down, eventually stylizing into the modern shape representing a flower blossom.
Semantic Evolution: From a specific mark on a tree denoting fruit or flowers, it generalized to mean flowers, then expanded by extension to earlobes and fluffy classifier objects like clouds.
Because flowers hang gracefully from trees, the character naturally evolved to become the classifier unit for clustered, soft, or blooming entities.
6. Sinosphere
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
A tiny tree (木) wears a delicate, curving flower blossom (朵) hanging underneath like a soft earring on an earlobe.
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
朵
duǒflowerBase character for flower and classifier.
躲
duǒto hide, to dodgeAdds the body/movement radical 身 on the left to mean dodging away.
垜
duǒpile, heapAdds the earth radical 土 on the left to mean a pile of dirt.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
杂(zá)
杂 has a nine (九) at the bottom instead of the hanging hook structure of 朵, meaning miscellaneous rather than flower.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
花园里开了很多美丽的花[___]。
Clue: duǒ
Common Learner Pitfall
Forgetting that 朵 acts as a measure word for clouds and flames as well as flowers, leading learners to mistakenly use gè (个) for clouds.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: When you see the character 朵 with a tree on top and a hanging hook underneath, what does it mean and how is it used?
Production: How do you write the measure word for 'one cloud' or 'one flower' using pinyin duǒ?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
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朵duǒflower
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