dāo

knife; blade; single-edged sword; cutlass (CL:把[ba3])

surname Dao; (slang) (loanword) dollar; classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper); classifier for knife cuts or stabs; (Internet slang) to bargain; to ask for a small discount (esp. on second-hand marketplaces)

a picture of 刀 → a single-edged blade

The character 刀 originally depicted a curved blade with a sharp edge on one side — the leaning stroke captures that single cutting edge. It is one of the most ancient tool pictographs in Chinese writing.

丿
丿A leftward falling strokeSemantic

桌子上有一把,请小心。

zhuō zi shàng yǒu yī bǎ dāo , qǐng xiǎo xīn 。

There is a knife on the table, please be careful.

他用把苹果切成了四块。

tā yòng dāo bǎ píng guǒ qiē chéng le sì kuài 。

He used a knife to cut the apple into four pieces.

Words with 刀

剃须刀

tì xū dāo

shaver

番刀

fān dāo

type of machete used by Taiwan aborigines, worn at the waist in an open-sided scabbard

绞刀

jiǎo dāo

reamer

自动换刀装置

zì dòng huàn dāo zhuāng zhì

automatic tool changer (ATC)

钐刀

shàn dāo

scythe

铅笔刀

qiān bǐ dāo

pencil sharpener

铰刀

jiǎo dāo

reamer

锉刀

cuò dāo

file (metalworking and woodworking tool)

钢刀

gāng dāo

steel knife

铡刀

zhá dāo

lever-style guillotine (for chopping fodder etc)

镰刀

lián dāo

sickle

镰刀斧头

lián dāo fǔ tóu

the hammer and sickle (flag of USSR, symbolizing rural and proletarian labor)

More characters with 丿