道
道 — Road-way
road-way, street, district, journey, course, moral
On’yomiドウ (dou)
On’yomiトウ (tou)
Kun’yomiみち (michi)
Kun’yomiいう (iu)
Stroke order (12 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 道
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 道 | みち michi | road; path; street |
| 報道 | ほうどう houdou | report (of news); reporting; news |
| 北海道 | ほっかいどう hokkaidou | Hokkaido (island, prefectural-level administrative unit) |
| 道路 | どうろ douro | road; highway |
| 鉄道 | てつどう tetsudou | railroad; railway; rail transport |
| 都道府県 | とどうふけん todoufuken | prefectures (of Japan); largest administrative divisions of Japan: Tokyo-to, Osaka-fu, Kyoto-fu, Hokkaido and the remaining prefectures |
Study notes
道 is a JLPT N4 kanji written with 12 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 2), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #207 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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