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tao

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tao¹

  • /daʊ/
  • /taʊ/

Rhymes with -aʊ

Where it comes from

From the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 道 (tao⁴).

proper noun dao

  1. Chinese Alternative letter-case form of Tao: the way of nature or way to live one's life. The tao of Lao Tzu was a cosmic tao, inner and unwritten, a tao of Nature, while the tao of Confucius was moral and written.

noun taos · dao

  1. broadly, uncountable, usually The art or skill of doing something in harmony with the essential nature of the thing. the tao of sex... the tao of the heart... the tao of integuments...

    Similar: zen

  2. historical, obsolete, uncountable, usually Synonym of circuit: various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China.

    Similar: circuit

Tao²

  • /daʊ/
  • /taʊ/

Rhymes with -aʊ

Where it comes from

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

proper noun Dao · dao · tao

  1. Chinese In Taoism, The Way, specifically the transcendental basis of nature and, and/or the ideal way to live one's life. Nor is progress exclusively a Western invention. Many interpret the Tao of ancient China as a guide for those who wish to progress as they make their way forward in the world—though its conception of progress is very different from what emerged in the West.

noun Taos · Dao · dao · tao

  1. alternative, countable, uncountable Alternative form of tao (“art or skill in harmony with essential nature”).

Tao³

proper noun

  1. A unisex given name from Mandarin.

Tao⁴

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Mandarin 陶 (Táo).

proper noun

  1. A surname from Mandarin. When mathematicians face a question they cannot answer, they sometimes devise a less stringent question, in the hope that solving it will provide insights. This is the path that Tao took in 2004, in collaboration with Ben Green of Oxford.

Tao⁵

  • /ˈta.ʊ/

Where it 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.

proper noun

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

    Similar: Yami

Tao⁶

  • /taʊ/

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Georgian ტაო (ṭao).

proper noun

  1. historical a historical region of Georgia (country)

TAO⁷

noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism, uncountable Initialism of thyroid-associated orbitopathy

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: taoist, dao, alo, shan, china, thao, wei, president, taiwan, friendship, tau, ordinance, island, leader, troop, pottery

Translations

Every language

name Chinese philosophical term

한국어도 do
中文道 dào
Русскийда́о dáo
Tiếng Việtđạo

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Cite this
MLA

"tao." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tao. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

tao. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tao

Chicago

"tao." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tao.

BibTeX
@misc{tao_2026,
  title = {tao},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tao},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}