<p>「倒」 (Mandarin: <strong>dǎo</strong>, <strong>dào</strong>; <em>to collapse/fall over</em>, <em>upside-down/inverted</em>) is comprised of semantic 「人・亻」 (<em>person</em>, "person falling over") and phonetic 「到」 (<strong>dào</strong>).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-19T10:53:07.230Z
2020-02-19T10:53:07.230Z
dROOOze
<p>From <a href="https://hanziyuan.net" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>:  </p>

<p>倒<br>
Character decomposition 字形分解 [?]:<br>
Compound 倒<br>
from person-left-ren 亻人 rén and<br>
phonetic arrive-dao 到 dào.</p>

<p>到<br>
Character decomposition 字形分解 [?]:<br>
Compound 到<br>
from arrow-arrive-zhi 至 zhì and<br>
phonetic knife-dao 刂刀 dāo.</p>

<p>至<br>
Character decomposition 字形分解 [?]:<br>
Component 至<br>
from arrow-shi 矢 shǐ and<br>
(rem+ 一 yī ground).
(name- arrow-arrive-zhi 至 zhì)</p>

<p>I have also read that 至 represents a bird swooping down to the ground. I'm sure our Chinese friends here have a very accurate etymology!</p>

<p>They say that 到 is just phonetic, but in 人 alone there is no sense of 'down'. I think some meaning of ‘down’ must derive from 至。</p>

<p>Ever noticed how 倒 sounds like 'down'? But down comes from Old English dun (= hill, rhymes with moon), which is exactly how the Scottish say 'down'!</p>

<p>I love to look for language links!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-20T21:10:31.487Z
"They say that 到 is just phonetic, but in 人 alone there is no sense of 'down'. I think some meaning of ‘down’ must derive from 至。" - A semantic component rarely carries the full meaning of a character - usually it's just a hint as to its full meaning. For example, 运 doesn't mean walk, even though its semantic component is 走之旁. Meanwhile, it would be very rare for a part of the meaning to come from a part of the _phonetic_ component.
Lionel Rowe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-18T23:05:14.157Z
2020-02-18T23:05:14.157Z
Pedroski
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/piacX.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/piacX.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/kBVRp.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/kBVRp.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/qbJ6V.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/qbJ6V.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>倒 == 亻+ 到 == 亻+ 至 + 刂 （morphed from 人）, two human going backwards against each other</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-18T17:58:43.937Z
2020-07-18T17:58:43.937Z
Siyi Deng
<p>Can anyone tell me the glyph origins for 倒 ?
I searched for it in one of the books but I couldn't find anything. </p>

<glyph-origin>
Glyph origins of 倒 (fall, collapse)
# Glyph origins of 倒 (fall, collapse)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-02-18)

Can anyone tell me the glyph origins for 倒 ?
I searched for it in one of the books but I couldn't find anything.

**Tags:** glyph-origin


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-02-19. Score: 1

「倒」 (Mandarin: **dǎo**, **dào**; *to collapse/fall over*, *upside-down/inverted*) is comprised of semantic 「人・亻」 (*person*, "person falling over") and phonetic 「到」 (**dào**).


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### Answer by username_2 on 2020-02-18. Score: 0

From [here](https://hanziyuan.net):

倒  
Character decomposition 字形分解 [?]:  
Compound 倒  
from person-left-ren 亻人 rén and  
phonetic arrive-dao 到 dào.

到  
Character decomposition 字形分解 [?]:  
Compound 到  
from arrow-arrive-zhi 至 zhì and  
phonetic knife-dao 刂刀 dāo.

至  
Character decomposition 字形分解 [?]:  
Component 至  
from arrow-shi 矢 shǐ and  
(rem+ 一 yī ground).
(name- arrow-arrive-zhi 至 zhì)

I have also read that 至 represents a bird swooping down to the ground. I'm sure our Chinese friends here have a very accurate etymology!

They say that 到 is just phonetic, but in 人 alone there is no sense of 'down'. I think some meaning of ‘down’ must derive from 至。

Ever noticed how 倒 sounds like 'down'? But down comes from Old English dun (= hill, rhymes with moon), which is exactly how the Scottish say 'down'!

I love to look for language links!

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: "They say that 到 is just phonetic, but in 人 alone there is no sense of 'down'. I think some meaning of ‘down’ must derive from 至。" - A semantic component rarely carries the full meaning of a character - usually it's just a hint as to its full meaning. For example, 运 doesn't mean walk, even though its semantic component is 走之旁. Meanwhile, it would be very rare for a part of the meaning to come from a part of the _phonetic_ component.  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2020-07-18. Score: -1

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/piacX.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/piacX.png)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/kBVRp.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/kBVRp.png)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/qbJ6V.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/qbJ6V.png)

倒 == 亻+ 到 == 亻+ 至 + 刂 （morphed from 人）, two human going backwards against each other


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