陡 (dǒu) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

陡

dǒu[dou3]Tone 3

steep

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · steep

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:8

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (⻖/阝) should be narrower and slightly shorter than the right component (走), maintaining vertical equilibrium.

1. Meaning

steep, precipitous

abruptlysuddenlyunexpectedly

Adjective / AdverbNeutral#topography#nature#adverbial manner

Sample Usage

这座山非常陡，爬起来很吃力。
Zhè zuò shān fēicháng dǒu, pá qǐlái hěn chīlì.
This mountain is very steep, and climbing it is exhausting.
天气陡然变冷了。
Tiānqì dǒurán biàn lěng le.
The weather suddenly turned cold.

2. Sound

/[toʊ̯²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

陡

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

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 behind your upper front teeth.

Final Rhyme

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 and rises, matching the skeptical English questioning intonation 'Really?'

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, dǒu changes to a 2nd tone (rising 35).

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the 3rd tone dip-and-rise with the 4th tone sharp drop, leading native speakers to hear 'dòu' instead of 'dǒu'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down sharply from your chest level and sweep up high to your chin level.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (⻖/阝) should be narrower and slightly shorter than the right component (走), maintaining vertical equilibrium.

4. Components

Radical ⻖ · Mound Radical (Left) (hill, mound, earthwork)

Semantic Clue (形旁): ⻖ (Indicates terrain, mountains, or earth)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 走 (original sound: zǒu / dǒu)

A steep path (⻖) where one walks or runs (走) straight up or down abruptly.

⻖ mound or cliffside
走 to walk or run

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 走 (zǒu)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the mound radical (⻖ representing terrain) and 走 (representing movement over the land), picturing a running path that climbs or drops sharply.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred to steep topography; later extended to describe abrupt or sudden changes in abstract contexts (e.g., dǒurán - suddenly).

The left component ⻖ is written as 阝 when on the left side of a character, representing a high place or cliff.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

đẩu

Vietnamese hỏi tone matches the Mandarin 3rd tone contour.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: トウ (tō) / Kun: きつい (kitsui)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

두

Sound Shift Bridge: Mandarin dǒu corresponds to Sino-Vietnamese đẩu and Sino-Japanese tō.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine walking up a steep cliff (⻖) where you have to run and scramble (走) on all fours because it is so incredibly precipitous (dǒu).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

走

zǒuto walk, to go, to leavePhonetic Core (声旁)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

豆(dòu)

豆 means bean and lacks the cliff radical (⻖) on the left.

逗(dòu)

逗 has the mouth radical (口) instead of the mound radical (⻖), meaning to tease or amuse.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

这座山的斜坡非常[___]。

Clue: dǒu

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the 3rd tone pronunciation of dǒu with dōu (all) or dòu (bean), or misplacing the left mound radical.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 陡, what is its English meaning and Pinyin?

Production: How do you write the character for 'steep' (dǒu) combining the mound and walk components?

陡dǒusteep

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0