阿斗

Mandarin · pinyin Ā dǒu

Meanings

  1. A-dou, nickname of Liu Shan 劉禪 Liú Shàn (207-271), son of Liu Bei, reigned as Shu Han emperor 233-263
  2. (fig.) weak and inept person
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

阿
ā · prefix for people's names; used in transliteration
斗
dòu · dǒu · a dipper; unit of volume (ten 升 or litres); Kangxi radical 68; 8th lunar mansion, determinative star φ Sagittarii
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–3 · A1 dou3

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

2character links1source reference
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

阿斗 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

  1. cowardly and incapable person; good-for-nothing

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

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

阿斗 · A1 dou3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 114,633
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record阿斗 阿斗 [A1 dou3] /A-dou, nickname of Liu Shan 劉禪|刘禅[Liu2 Shan4] (207-271), son of Liu Bei, reigned as Shu Han emperor 233-263/(fig.) weak and inept person/