"tao" meaning in English

See tao in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

IPA: /daʊ/, /taʊ/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tao.wav [Southern-England]
Rhymes: -aʊ Etymology: From the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 道 (tao⁴). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|cmn-wadegiles|-}} Wade–Giles, {{bor|en|cmn|-}} Mandarin, {{der|en|zh|道}} Chinese 道 Head templates: {{en-proper noun}} tao
  1. (Chinese philosophy and religion) Alternative letter-case form of Tao: the way of nature or way to live one's life. Tags: Chinese, alt-of Alternative form of: Tao (extra: the way of nature or way to live one's life) Categories (topical): Philosophy, Religion
    Sense id: en-tao-en-name-pkY7Sz5t Topics: human-sciences, lifestyle, philosophy, religion, sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: dao

Noun

IPA: /daʊ/, /taʊ/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tao.wav [Southern-England] Forms: taos [plural]
Rhymes: -aʊ Etymology: From the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 道 (tao⁴). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|cmn-wadegiles|-}} Wade–Giles, {{bor|en|cmn|-}} Mandarin, {{der|en|zh|道}} Chinese 道 Head templates: {{en-noun|-|s}} tao (usually uncountable, plural taos)
  1. (by extension) The art or skill of doing something in harmony with the essential nature of the thing. Tags: broadly, uncountable, usually Synonyms (harmonious skill): zen
    Sense id: en-tao-en-noun-oOneBl2O Disambiguation of 'harmonious skill': 99 1
  2. (historical, obsolete) Synonym of circuit: various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China. Tags: historical, obsolete, uncountable, usually Synonyms: circuit [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-tao-en-noun-r6VBbbpe Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 24 21 55
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: dao Related terms: ananke

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for tao meaning in English (5.3kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cmn-wadegiles",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Wade–Giles",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cmn",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Mandarin",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "zh",
        "3": "道"
      },
      "expansion": "Chinese 道",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 道 (tao⁴).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tao",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "the way of nature or way to live one's life",
          "word": "Tao"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Philosophy",
          "orig": "en:Philosophy",
          "parents": [
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Religion",
          "orig": "en:Religion",
          "parents": [
            "Culture",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021, Olof G. Lidin, From Taoism to Einstein, page 196",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative letter-case form of Tao: the way of nature or way to live one's life."
      ],
      "id": "en-tao-en-name-pkY7Sz5t",
      "links": [
        [
          "philosophy",
          "philosophy"
        ],
        [
          "religion",
          "religion"
        ],
        [
          "Tao",
          "Tao#English"
        ],
        [
          "way",
          "way"
        ],
        [
          "nature",
          "nature"
        ],
        [
          "live",
          "live"
        ],
        [
          "life",
          "life"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Chinese philosophy and religion) Alternative letter-case form of Tao: the way of nature or way to live one's life."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Chinese",
        "alt-of"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "lifestyle",
        "philosophy",
        "religion",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/daʊ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/taʊ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊ"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tao.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/aa/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/aa/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "dao"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Daoism–Taoism romanization issue",
    "Encyclopædia Britannica",
    "Tao",
    "circuit (administrative division)"
  ],
  "word": "tao"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cmn-wadegiles",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Wade–Giles",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cmn",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Mandarin",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "zh",
        "3": "道"
      },
      "expansion": "Chinese 道",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 道 (tao⁴).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "taos",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "tao (usually uncountable, plural taos)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "ananke"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "the tao of sex... the tao of the heart... the tao of integuments...",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The art or skill of doing something in harmony with the essential nature of the thing."
      ],
      "id": "en-tao-en-noun-oOneBl2O",
      "links": [
        [
          "art",
          "art"
        ],
        [
          "skill",
          "skill"
        ],
        [
          "doing",
          "doing"
        ],
        [
          "something",
          "something"
        ],
        [
          "harmony",
          "harmony"
        ],
        [
          "essential",
          "essential"
        ],
        [
          "nature",
          "nature"
        ],
        [
          "thing",
          "thing"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) The art or skill of doing something in harmony with the essential nature of the thing."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "sense": "harmonious skill",
          "word": "zen"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "24 21 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of circuit: various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China."
      ],
      "id": "en-tao-en-noun-r6VBbbpe",
      "links": [
        [
          "circuit",
          "circuit#English"
        ],
        [
          "various",
          "various"
        ],
        [
          "administrative",
          "administrative"
        ],
        [
          "division",
          "division"
        ],
        [
          "imperial",
          "imperial"
        ],
        [
          "early",
          "early"
        ],
        [
          "Republican",
          "Republic of China"
        ],
        [
          "China",
          "China"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical, obsolete) Synonym of circuit: various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "circuit"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical",
        "obsolete",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/daʊ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/taʊ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊ"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tao.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/aa/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/aa/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "dao"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Daoism–Taoism romanization issue",
    "Encyclopædia Britannica",
    "Tao",
    "circuit (administrative division)"
  ],
  "word": "tao"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 1-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English proper nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from Mandarin",
    "English terms borrowed from Wade–Giles",
    "English terms derived from Chinese",
    "English terms derived from Mandarin",
    "English terms derived from Wade–Giles",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Rhymes:English/aʊ",
    "Rhymes:English/aʊ/1 syllable"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cmn-wadegiles",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Wade–Giles",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cmn",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Mandarin",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "zh",
        "3": "道"
      },
      "expansion": "Chinese 道",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 道 (tao⁴).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tao",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "the way of nature or way to live one's life",
          "word": "Tao"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Philosophy",
        "en:Religion"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021, Olof G. Lidin, From Taoism to Einstein, page 196",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative letter-case form of Tao: the way of nature or way to live one's life."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "philosophy",
          "philosophy"
        ],
        [
          "religion",
          "religion"
        ],
        [
          "Tao",
          "Tao#English"
        ],
        [
          "way",
          "way"
        ],
        [
          "nature",
          "nature"
        ],
        [
          "live",
          "live"
        ],
        [
          "life",
          "life"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Chinese philosophy and religion) Alternative letter-case form of Tao: the way of nature or way to live one's life."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Chinese",
        "alt-of"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "lifestyle",
        "philosophy",
        "religion",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/daʊ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/taʊ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊ"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tao.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/aa/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/aa/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "dao"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Daoism–Taoism romanization issue",
    "Encyclopædia Britannica",
    "Tao",
    "circuit (administrative division)"
  ],
  "word": "tao"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English 1-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English proper nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from Mandarin",
    "English terms borrowed from Wade–Giles",
    "English terms derived from Chinese",
    "English terms derived from Mandarin",
    "English terms derived from Wade–Giles",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Rhymes:English/aʊ",
    "Rhymes:English/aʊ/1 syllable"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cmn-wadegiles",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Wade–Giles",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cmn",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Mandarin",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "zh",
        "3": "道"
      },
      "expansion": "Chinese 道",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 道 (tao⁴).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "taos",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "tao (usually uncountable, plural taos)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "ananke"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "the tao of sex... the tao of the heart... the tao of integuments...",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The art or skill of doing something in harmony with the essential nature of the thing."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "art",
          "art"
        ],
        [
          "skill",
          "skill"
        ],
        [
          "doing",
          "doing"
        ],
        [
          "something",
          "something"
        ],
        [
          "harmony",
          "harmony"
        ],
        [
          "essential",
          "essential"
        ],
        [
          "nature",
          "nature"
        ],
        [
          "thing",
          "thing"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) The art or skill of doing something in harmony with the essential nature of the thing."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with obsolete senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of circuit: various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "circuit",
          "circuit#English"
        ],
        [
          "various",
          "various"
        ],
        [
          "administrative",
          "administrative"
        ],
        [
          "division",
          "division"
        ],
        [
          "imperial",
          "imperial"
        ],
        [
          "early",
          "early"
        ],
        [
          "Republican",
          "Republic of China"
        ],
        [
          "China",
          "China"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical, obsolete) Synonym of circuit: various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "circuit"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical",
        "obsolete",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/daʊ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/taʊ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊ"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tao.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/aa/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/aa/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-tao.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "harmonious skill",
      "word": "zen"
    },
    {
      "word": "dao"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Daoism–Taoism romanization issue",
    "Encyclopædia Britannica",
    "Tao",
    "circuit (administrative division)"
  ],
  "word": "tao"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.