兜

Translingual

Han character

兜 (Kangxi radical 10, 儿+9, 11 strokes, cangjie input 竹女竹山 (HVHU), four-corner 7721₇).

Derived characters

• 篼, 蔸, 㨮, 𣘛, 𩮷

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 125, character 20
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1386
• Dae Jaweon: page 265, character 27
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 273, character 16
• Unihan data for U+515C

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		兜
alternative forms		兠／兜

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 兜
Small seal script s06217 Transcribed ancient scripts L33694 L12173 L12174 L12175
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Characters in the same phonetic series (兜) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
兜	*toː
篼	*toː

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 𠑹 (“cover”) + 皃 (“head”): a helmet.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): dōu (dou¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄡ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): dau¹
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): têu
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): tau / to͘

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: dōu
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄡ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: dou
    • Wade–Giles: tou¹
    • Yale: dōu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dou
    • Palladius: доу (dou)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /toʊ̯⁵⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed) (兜兒／兜儿)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: dōur
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄡㄦ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: dour
    • Wade–Giles: tou¹-ʼrh
    • Yale: dōur
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: doul
    • Palladius: доур (dour)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tɤʊ̯ɻʷ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: dau¹
    • Yale: dāu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dau¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: deo¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tɐu̯⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: têu
    • Hakka Romanization System: deu^ˊ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: deu¹
    • Sinological IPA: /teu̯²⁴/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tau
    • Tâi-lô: tau
    • Phofsit Daibuun: daw
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tau³³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /tau⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: to͘
    • Tâi-lô: too
    • Phofsit Daibuun: dof
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /tɔ⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tɔ³³/

Note:

• tau - vernacular;
• to͘ - literary.

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• Middle Chinese: tuw

Rime
Character	兜
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	端 (5)
Final (韻)	侯 (137)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	當侯切
Baxter	tuw
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/təu/
Pan Wuyun	/təu/
Shao Rongfen	/təu/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/təw/
Li Rong	/tu/
Wang Li	/təu/
Bernard Karlgren	/tə̯u/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	dōu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	dau1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*tˤo/

  (Zhengzhang): /*toː/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	兜
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	dōu
Middle Chinese	‹ tuw ›
Old Chinese	/*tˁo/
English	helmet, hood
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	兜
Reading #	1/1
No.	2449
Phonetic component	兜
Rime group	侯
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	兠
Old Chinese	/*toː/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 兜

1. helmet; hood
2. helmet-shaped
3. to wrap; to encase
4. armor
5. to carry in a wrap
6. bag; pouch
7. plastic bag
8. pocket
9. to pocket; to keep; to retain; to acquire dishonestly
10. to reach
11. to move around; to move in a circle; to canvass; to solicit
12. to take responsibility for
13. to relate in detail
14. to peddle; to hawk
15. (Southern Min) home
16. (Southern Min) nearby
17. (Cantonese) lunchbox
18. (Cantonese) to save, to assue

Synonyms

• (pocket): 口袋 (kǒudai), 衣袋 (yīdài), 衣兜 (yīdōu)
• (bag): (Min Nan) 袋仔 (tē-á)
• (to move in a circle): 繞／绕 (rào)

Further reading

• (Min Nan pronunciation audio) “Entry #6941”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

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Japanese

Kanji

兜

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: つ (tsu); と (to)
• Kan-on: とう (tō)
• Kun: かぶと (kabuto, 兜)

Etymology

兜 (kabuto): a traditional Japanese helmet.

Kanji in this term
兜
かぶと Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese. Found in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE with the reading kaputo.

Derivation currently unknown.

• A surface analysis might suggest a derivation from 被る (kaburu, “to wear something on the head”). However, that reading derives from older form kagafuru and doesn't appear until 850, some time after the first appearance of kabuto.

• An alternative analysis might suggest a compound of 頭 (kabu, “head”, kun'yomi and native Japanese term) +‎ 兜 (to, “helmet”, on'yomi and borrowing from Chinese). However, the “head” sense with the kabu reading doesn't appear until near the end of the Muromachi period.

Alternative forms

• 冑, 甲

Noun

兜(かぶと) • (kabuto) 

1. helmet

Derived terms

• 兜(かぶと)合(あ)わせ (kabutoawase, “frot”)

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Korean

Hanja

兜 (eum 두 (du))

1. (투구 두, tugu-): helmet (especially, made of iron)

Synonyms

• 冑 (주, ju)

See also

• 甲 (갑, gap) armor

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Vietnamese

Han character

兜: Hán Nôm readings: đâu

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