岛 (dǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “island”. It is written from ⺈ (claw-top form; the flattened top of 刀 seen in 争, 色, 龟) and 丶 (dot stroke) and ㇉ (bent hook stroke) and 山 (mountain), one above the other, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “island”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
⺈ + 丶 + ㇉ + 山
Top–bottom structure
- ⺈ claw-top form; the flattened top of 刀 seen in 争, 色, 龟 unknown
- 丶 dot stroke · zhǔ unknown
- ㇉ bent hook stroke unknown
- 山 mountain · shān unknown
Structure from: hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验（现代字形拆分：第 1–2 笔为⺈，第 3 笔为丶，第 4 笔为竖折折钩㇉，第 5–7 笔为山）
Memory aid
A bird's head (⺈) with one bright eye (丶), its long body stroke (㇉) sweeping down and hooking back up, settled on a mountain (山) that stands alone in the water: an island.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 海岛hǎi dǎoisland (in the sea); sea island岛 = dǎospoken ashái dǎo
- 岛屿dǎo yǔislands; archipelago岛 = dǎospoken asdáo yǔ
- 胰岛素yí dǎo sùinsulin岛 = dǎo
Go deeper
All readings
island
island; a piece of land surrounded by water
四面被水围绕的陆地。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 海岛hǎi dǎoisland (in the sea); sea island岛 = dǎospoken ashái dǎo
- 岛屿dǎo yǔislands; archipelago岛 = dǎospoken asdáo yǔ
- 胰岛素yí dǎo sùinsulin岛 = dǎo
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 岛 mean?
岛 (dǎo) means island; a piece of land surrounded by water.
How do you pronounce 岛?
It is pronounced dǎo.
What parts is 岛 made of?
⺈ (claw-top form; the flattened top of 刀 seen in 争, 色, 龟) and 丶 (dot stroke) and ㇉ (bent hook stroke) and 山 (mountain), one above the other. The recorded source is: hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验（现代字形拆分：第 1–2 笔为⺈，第 3 笔为丶，第 4 笔为竖折折钩㇉，第 5–7 笔为山）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 岛 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 岛?
山. 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 岛?
Common ones are 海岛 and 岛屿. The reading of 岛 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.