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Tao.

In Taoism, The Way, specifically the transcendental basis of nature and, and/or the ideal way to live one's life.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/daʊ//taʊ/
  1. In Taoism, The Way, specifically the transcendental basis of nature and, and/or the ideal way to live one's life.

    Chinese
Where this word comes from

From the Wade–Giles romanization of Mandarin 道 (Dào, literally “The Way”): Tao⁴.

name
  1. A unisex given name from Mandarin.

name
  1. A surname from Mandarin.

Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Mandarin 陶 (Táo).

name/ˈta.ʊ/
  1. an Austronesian ethnic group native to Orchid Island (Lanyu) of Lanyu, Taitung County, Taiwan

Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Yami Tao (“the Tao/Yami language”), from Yami tao (“human; person”), from Proto-Philippine *tau, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Austronesian *Cau. Compare Ibatan tawo, Tagalog tao, Ilocano tao.

name/taʊ/
  1. a historical region of Georgia (country)

    historical
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Georgian ტაო (ṭao).

noun/daʊ//taʊ/
  1. Alternative form of tao (“art or skill in harmony with essential nature”).

    alt-of · alternative · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From the Wade–Giles romanization of Mandarin 道 (Dào, literally “The Way”): Tao⁴.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.