dao

\da.o\

/\da.o\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“dao” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #41,727) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#41,727
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Essence fondamentale qui coule en toutes choses dans l’univers, vivantes ou inertes, qui fonde la réalité.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dao · dao · French

dao · rank #41,727 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #41,727
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH câblage

Nearest frequency peer: câblage (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “dao”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “dao” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

dao vs de
33% similar
dao vs du
33% similar
dao vs dr
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for dao
PropertyValue
Headworddao
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\da.o\
Letters3
Frequency rank#41,727
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “dao” se place dans la fréquence du français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).daose place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « câblage » (#41,726), « Daria » (#41,728), « crossing » (#41,725). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for dao is neighbouring look-alikes ("de", "du", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \da.o\. Frequency #41,727 among 5,307 “D” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No generated misspelling entries exist for dao in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "de", "du", "dr", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is dao, spelled D-A-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Essence fondamentale qui coule en toutes choses dans l’univers, vivantes ou inertes, qui fonde la réalité.
  2. 2
    Enchaînement de mouvements de kung-fu.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how dao appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Le dao est la notion maîtresse à l’œuvre dans le taoïsme, philosophie et voie spirituelle chinoise.

Synonyms

taokata

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dao"?
"dao" is spelled D-A-O. The IPA pronunciation is \da.o\.
What does "dao" mean?
As a noun, "dao" means: Essence fondamentale qui coule en toutes choses dans l’univers, vivantes ou inertes, qui fonde la réalité.
What words are commonly confused with "dao"?
"dao" is commonly confused with "de", "du", "dr". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dao"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dao" is \da.o\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dao" come from?
"dao" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dao", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

dép#41,754bom#41,679adj#41,628wok#41,603

What to do next

You've looked up "dao". Here's where to go from here.

  • "dao" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "de". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #41,727 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list