どう

See also: とう

Japanese

Adverb

どう (rōmaji dō)

1. 如何: in what manner?

Usage notes

• The hiragana spelling (どう) is preferred to the kanji spelling (如何), which is rarely used.

Synonyms

• いかが (ikaga)

Derived terms

• どうか (dōka)
• どうも (dōmo)
• どういう (dōiu)

See also

Japanese demonstratives

	ko- “this” (close to speaker)	so- “that” (close to listener)	a- “that over there” (far from both)	do- “which” (indeterminate, question)
Object	これ (kore)	それ (sore)	あれ (are)	どれ (dore)
	これら (korera)	それら (sorera)	あれら (arera)	—
Determiner	この (kono)	その (sono)	あの (ano)	どの (dono)
	これらの (korera no)	それらの (sorera no)	あれらの (arera no)	—
Kind	こんな (konna)	そんな (sonna)	あんな (anna)	どんな (donna)
Place	ここ (koko)	そこ (soko)	あそこ (asoko)*	どこ (doko)
Direction	こちら (kochira)	そちら (sochira)	あちら (achira)	どちら (dochira)
	こっち (kotchi)	そっち (sotchi)	あっち (atchi)	どっち (dotchi)
Human	こいつ (koitsu)	そいつ (soitsu)	あいつ (aitsu)	どいつ (doitsu)
Manner	こう (kō)	そう (sō)	ああ (ā)**	どう (dō)
* irregular ** regular (long vowel)

Interjection

どう (rōmaji dō)

1. Casual greeting: Howdy? What's new? What's up?

   どう？まあまあ。

   Dō? Māmā.

   Howdy? So-so.

2. Casual question: It works? Is it OK?

   どう？いいんじゃない。

   Dō? Ii n ja nai.

   It works? Seems OK.

3. Call out to horses or cows to control/stop them: Ho! Hoy! Whoa!

Noun

どう (rōmaji dō)

1. 胴: body, torso, trunk
2. 動: movement, action
3. 堂: hall, temple, building
4. 筒: hub (central part of a wheel)
5. 道: way
6. 銅: copper
7. 幢:
8. 鐃: in ancient China, a gong used in the army to signal the drumming to stop; (Buddhism) a kind of gong used at Buddhist temples

Prefix

どう (rōmaji dō-)

1. 同: same

Suffix

どう (rōmaji -dō)

1. 堂: hall, temple, building