どう

See also: とう

Japanese

Etymology 1

Alternative spellings
如何 (uncommon) 怎 (rare) 怎う (rare)

First cited to 1604 in the Portuguese work Arte da Lingoa de Iapam.

The initial ど (do) may be cognate with the interrogative ど (do) seen in どれ (dore), どこ (doko), どち (dochi).

Alternatively, possibly from older form だう (dau), much like the shift from かう (kau) → こう (kō, “like this, this way”), or さう (sau) → そう (sō, “like that, that way”). This shift is apparently suggested in the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam entry of Dǒxô, presumably どうしよう (dō shiyō). However, the expected entries dǒ or dǒxô are missing from the 1603 Nippo Jisho.

The kanji spelling is an example of jukujikun (熟字訓), using the corresponding Chinese term for the spelling and the underlying Japanese root word for the reading.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) どー [dóꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [do̞ː]

Adverb

どう • (dō) 

1. in what manner, how

   Synonym: いかが (ikaga)

   どうやったの？

   Dō yatta no?

   How did you do it?

   どうやってもできない

   dō yatte mo dekinai

   can't do it no matter what

   (literally, “can't do it no matter how one does”)

   この後(あと)はどうする？

   Kono ato wa dō suru?

   What will we do after this? / What do you want to do after this?

   (literally, “After this, how will we do?”)

   どうしよう！

   Dō shiyō!

   Oh no! What will we do now?

   (literally, “How should we do?”)

   どうしようもない

   dō shiyō mo nai

   can't be helped

   (literally, “has not even how to do”)

   どうだ！

   Dō da!

   How is it, huh? (smug/triumphant)

   どうだろう。

   Dō darō.

   I wonder.

   計(けい)画(かく)がどうなっているのか知(し)らない。

   Keikaku ga dō natteiru no ka shiranai.

   I don't know how the project is going.

2. what about... (used to make a suggestion)

   お茶(ちゃ)、どう？

   Ocha, dō?

   How about some tea?

   あなたはどうですか？

   Anata wa dō desu ka?

   How about you? / What about you?

Usage notes

The term dō is generally considered more prosaic and informal than the synonym いかが (ikaga).

Derived terms

• どうか (dō ka)
• どうして (dōshite)
• どうも (dōmo)
• どういう (dō iu)
• どうやって (dōyatte)

Interjection

どう • (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!

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)
	こういう (kō iu)	そういう (sō iu)	ああいう (ā iu)	どういう (dō iu)
Place	ここ (koko)	そこ (soko)	あそこ (asoko)*	どこ (doko)
	こっから (kokkara)	そっから (sokkara)	—	どっから (dokkara)
Direction / Human	こちら (kochira)	そちら (sochira)	あちら (achira)	どちら (dochira)
	こなた (konata)	そなた (sonata)	あなた (anata)	どなた (donata)
Direction	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)
Degree	これくらい (kore kurai)	それくらい (sore kurai)	あれくらい (are kurai)	どれくらい (dore kurai)
	これだけ (kore dake)	それだけ (sore dake)	あれだけ (are dake)	どれだけ (dore dake)
	これほど (kore hodo)	それほど (sore hodo)	あれほど (are hodo)	どれほど (dore hodo)
* irregular ** regular (long vowel) † potentially rude or derogatory

The kanji 此(こ) (ko), 其(そ) (so), 彼(あ) (a), and 何(ど) (do) can be used for determiners, but they are almost always spelled in hiragana.

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of どう – see the following entries.

【胴】S [noun] body, torso, trunk

【堂】5 [noun] temple [noun] shrine [noun] hall [prefix] magnificent (building)

【筒】S [noun] hub (central part of a wheel)

【道】2 [noun] Tao (the way of nature), Taoism [noun] (chiefly historical) a region of Japan consisting of multiple provinces or prefectures [proper noun] a surname [prefix] Short for 北(ほっ)海(かい)道(どう) (Hokkaidō)

【銅】5 [noun] copper, Cu

【鐃】H [noun] in ancient China, a gong used in the army to signal the drumming to stop [noun] (Buddhism) a kind of gong used at Buddhist temples

【同】2 [prefix] same

(This term, どう (dō), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as どう, see Category:Japanese kanji read as どう.)

(The following entries do not have a page created for them yet: 動, 幢, 怎.)