The character 刀 (dāo): knife

In a Chinese kitchen, a cleaver with a broad rectangular steel blade and a pale wooden handle lies flat on a round wooden block, with spring onions and a red chilli beside it. Behind, bamboo steamer baskets and a jar of chopsticks stand by a window. High on the cream wall at the right, the character 刀 in very dark brown: a stroke runs along the top, turns down the right side and ends in a small hook, and a slanting stroke sweeps from it to the lower left.

Pronunciation: dāo
Strokes: 2
Level: HSK 4
Radical: 刀

What it means

knife; blade; single-edged sword; cutlass; CL:把[ba3]; (slang) dollar (loanword); classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper); classifier for knife cuts or stabs

Where its shape comes from

A knife with its blade and its handle, drawn from the side. Xu Shen disposes of it in a handful of words, calling it a weapon and a figuring of the shape, and there is genuinely nothing more to be said about it. A pictogram, with no discussion attached.

Source: Xu Shen, Shuowen Jiezi (121 CE); the Chinese University of Hong Kong character database.

A way to remember it

The stroke that runs along the top and then drops down the right gives you the back of the blade; the one that slants away towards the bottom left gives you the cutting edge. Two strokes, and the second one sets off from the first, not from empty space.

This is a memory aid, not the origin of the character.

Words it appears in

剪刀 jiǎn dāo · HSK 5 scissors; CL:把[ba3]
刀剑 dāo jiàn sword
小刀 xiǎo dāo knife; CL:把[ba3]
刀具 dāo jù cutting tool
飞刀 fēi dāo a throwing knife; fly cutter (machine tool)
刀子 dāo zi knife; CL:把[ba3]

Writing it

See the stroke order of 刀, animated stroke by stroke.