zimai字脈
LookupMandarin · 繁體 · English
Mandarin–English · CC-CEDICTSources ↗
CANTONESE ↔ ENGLISH · CC-CANTO

倒

Cantonese · source Jyutpingdou3#

Meanings · dou3

  1. to place upside down
  2. to invert
  3. to reverse
  4. inverted
  5. to move backwards
  6. however
  7. actually
  8. as a matter of fact
  9. contrary to expectation
Cantonese · source Jyutpingdou2#

Meanings · dou2

  1. to pour
  2. to throw out
  3. to dump
  4. to topple
  5. to overthrow
  6. to collapse
  7. to fail (business)
  8. malfunction
  9. shift
  10. move around
  11. to fall over
About these definitions

Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.

Full entryShow on map

Reading & tones

Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.

Tone difference from Unihan

  • 倒 is read dou3 here; Unihan’s citation reading is dou2. Same syllable, different tone across these source readings. CC-Canto also lists 倒 dou3 as its own entry.

Computed by zimai: each syllable of the CC-Canto word reading is compared with Unihan 17.0.0 kCantonese for its character. The comparison does not say why a reading differs (a changed tone, 變音, a reading tied to one meaning, or a source variant).

Same syllable, six tones

dou都dou1all倒dou2to pour到dou3todou4—dou5—道dou6direction

Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.

Explore words with this reading ↗

Written characters

倒

Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.

Cantonese entries with 倒 ↗

Cantonese characters and the Mandarin bridge ↗

Mandarin comparison · separate source entries

CC-CEDICT, the Mandarin–English dictionary, lists the same written form:

  • 倒 dǎo CC-CEDICT · Mandarinto fall; to collapse; to lie horizontally; to fail; to go bankrupt; to overthrow; to change (trains or buses); to move around; to resell at a profit
  • 倒 dào CC-CEDICT · Mandarinto invert; to place upside down or frontside back; to pour out; to tip out; to dump; inverted; upside down; reversed; to go backward; contrary to what one might expect; but; yet

A separate source entry, shown for comparison. The same characters can carry different senses in Mandarin and in Cantonese; zimai does not align these senses.

CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: dao4. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.

Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 27 senses · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

dou2 · dou3

Cantonese word readings for 倒. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character

  1. to fall; to fall over; to fall down
  2. to collapse; to fall in
  3. to lie down; to recline
  4. to fail; to be on the decline
  5. to be damaged; to malfunction
  6. to go bankrupt; to close down
  7. to sell out; to sell up; to give up for money
  8. to buy and resell for a profit
  9. to stop; to discontinue
  10. to move; to move around
  11. to change; to switch over
  12. (Internet slang, dated) to be astonished (hyperbolically to the extent that one fells down); to be left speechless
  13. (Southwestern Mandarin) Particle indicating the continuation of an action or a state.
  14. (Southwestern Mandarin) Particle denoting a command, request or advice.
  15. (Cantonese, obsolete) Used after a positional verb to indicate a change of location.

character

  1. to put upside down; to invert; to be inverted
  2. to reverse; to move backwards; to turn back
  3. upside down; inverted; flipped; reversed
  4. (Southern Min) left (direction)

character

  1. to pour out; to dump; to empty
  2. to cast; to mould
  3. contrary to expectation; conversely; on the contrary; instead
  4. particle indicating contrast; but; however
  5. particle used after a ‹verb + 得› structure to indicate it is contrary to the actual situation, implying blame; then
  6. particle used in a subordinate clause at the beginning of a sentence to indicate concession; quite
  7. particle used in an imperative sentence to indicate impatience
  8. particle used to soften the tone

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

CC-Canto · Pleco Inc. · edition 2017-02-02
Source lines 1,618, 25,794 · Original publisher · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Edition & transformations

Original source comment: adapted from cc-cedict

Original source comment: adapted from cc-cedict

Mandarin comparison: CC-CEDICT 2026-10-13, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source reading differences and six-tone sets: computed by zimai from Unihan 17.0.0 (Unicode License V3).

Exact source records & identity倒 倒 [dao4] {dou3} /to place upside down/to invert/to reverse/inverted/to move backwards/however/actually/as a matter of fact/contrary to expectation/ # adapted from cc-cedict

SHA-256: 71e67d27c1f6f49d639dd27110a9fb6da4ab22682bddd8cca29bc84775f311b7

倒 倒 [dao4] {dou2} /to pour/to throw out/to dump/to topple/to overthrow/to collapse/to fail (business)/malfunction/shift/move around/to fall over/ # adapted from cc-cedict

SHA-256: 70ee8d2bf992a41bb1969c9fa4e3d4a6dd1e0de506ee9286476f636f7f666222