dao
/daʊ/noun
dao is spelled D-A-O: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, dao means “Any of various traditional Chinese swords with a curved, single-edged blade, primarily used for slashing and chopping” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of dao is daos.
How many letters and syllables are in dao?
| Letters | 3: D-A-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 29,270th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is dao?
Dao appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce dao?
- /daʊ/
Dao has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Words people confuse with dao
Also written: dah.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with dao?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as dao.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ado, oda.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of dao
- daos plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dao mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of various traditional Chinese swords with a curved, single-edged blade, primarily used for slashing and chopping.
- 2
Synonym of circuit: various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China.
- 3
A sword and construction tool of the Naga people of India, which has a wooden hilt and grows wider from the narrow hilt to the wide, flat tip.
- 4
Dracontomelon dao; a large tree of the family Anacardiaceae; the argus pheasant tree.
- 5
The hard strong wood of the dao used for veneers and cabinetwork.
- 6
Alternative form of dah (“Burmese knife or sword”).
noun
- 1
Initialism of de-asphalted oil, a crude oil refinery process stream.
- 2
Initialism of disk-at-once, an optical disk recording mode.
- 3
Initialism of data access object, a design pattern.
- 4
Initialism of double action only, a trigger mechanism for revolving cylinder and semi-automatic firearms.
- 5
Acronym of decentralized autonomous organization, an autonomous entity based on smart contracts on a blockchain.
noun
- 1
Abbreviation of descending aorta.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does dao come from?
From Chinese 刀 (dāo, literally “single-edged blade”). Possibly a doublet of dah.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).