Meaning & readings
overthrow, fall, collapse, drop, break down
On’yomi トウ
Kun’yomi たお.れる、-だお.れ、たお.す、さかさま、さかさ、さかしま
Origin
This character combines a person (亻) on the left with a sound hint on the right. The right component 到 tells you roughly how to pronounce the character, but it doesn't contribute to the meaning. The person component, placed next to this sound hint, creates a character meaning for a person to fall down, collapse, or tip over. When something physically tips or falls, it goes in the opposite direction from standing upright—which is why 倒 also carries meanings like overthrow and turning something upside down.
Components
- 亻
- 到
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 10
- Kangxi radical
- 9
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #791 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+05012