董 (dǒng) is a Chinese character meaning “to direct”. It is written from 艹 (grass / plant radical) and 重 (heavy; weight), one above the other, and takes 12 strokes.
Build the character for “to direct; director”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
艹 + 重
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: 说文解字: 董，鼎董也。从艸童声 (义符艸可追溯); 现代字形拆分 ⿱艹重 据 IDS 并对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验
Memory aid
Grass (艹) stacked on top of something heavy (重): the director is the one who sits on top of the heavy matters. This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
12 strokes
In real words
- 董事dǒng shìdirector (of a board); board member董 = dǒng
- 古董gǔ dǒngantique董 = dǒngspoken asgú dǒng
- 董事长dǒng shì zhǎngchairman of the board董 = dǒng
Go deeper
All readings
to direct; director
to direct; to supervise; director (of a board); also a surname
监督管理；也指董事。也用作姓。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 董事dǒng shìdirector (of a board); board member董 = dǒng
- 古董gǔ dǒngantique董 = dǒngspoken asgú dǒng
- 董事长dǒng shì zhǎngchairman of the board董 = dǒng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 董 mean?
董 (dǒng) means to direct; to supervise; director (of a board); also a surname.
How do you pronounce 董?
It is pronounced dǒng.
What parts is 董 made of?
艹 (grass / plant radical) and 重 (heavy; weight), one above the other. The recorded source is: 说文解字: 董，鼎董也。从艸童声 (义符艸可追溯); 现代字形拆分 ⿱艹重 据 IDS 并对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 董 have?
12. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 董?
艹. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 董?
Common ones are 董事, 古董, 董事长. The reading of 董 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.