祷 meaning and stroke order
To pray, to entreat, to beg; prayer
How to write 祷, stroke by stroke
11 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 祷
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- prayer
- pray
- supplication
How 祷 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Spirit.
礻 gives the meaning and 寿 hints at the sound.
Radical: 礻 (spirit), shared by 43 characters on this site.
How to remember 祷
The left side 礻 is the spirit or altar radical, and the right side 寿 (shòu, long life) gives the sound. Picture someone at an altar asking the spirits for a long life, and you have 祷 (dǎo), to pray.
祷 almost never appears alone in modern Chinese. It lives in two-character words like 祈祷 (qídǎo) and 祷告 (dǎogào). Example: 她每天晚上都为家人祈祷。(Tā měitiān wǎnshang dōu wèi jiārén qídǎo.) She prays for her family every night.
Common mistake: Learners often write the left side as 衤 (the clothing radical, with an extra stroke) instead of 礻. Remember that prayer belongs to the spirit side 礻, the same one in 神 (shén) and 福 (fú).
Common words with 祷
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
祷 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 祷
How many strokes are in 祷?
祷 is written with 11 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 祷 mean?
祷 (dǎo) means to pray, to entreat, to beg; prayer. A common word with it is 祈祷 (qídǎo), meaning "to pray; to say a prayer".
How do you pronounce 祷?
祷 is pronounced dǎo, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 祷?
The radical of 祷 is 礻, which carries the idea of "spirit". Dictionaries list 祷 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 祷?
The traditional form of 祷 is 禱. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 祷 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 祷 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 祷 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 祈祷 and 祷告?
Both mean to pray. 祷告 is used a lot in Christian contexts for saying a prayer out loud or to God. 祈祷 is broader and also covers simply hoping or wishing hard, as in 祈祷明天不下雨 (praying it won't rain tomorrow).
Why is 祷 pronounced dǎo when 寿 is pronounced shòu?
寿 is the sound component, but Chinese pronunciation has changed over many centuries, so the sound hint no longer matches exactly. Other characters with 寿, such as 涛 (tāo) and 筹 (chóu), also drifted away from shòu.