How to Write 悼 (dào) — Meaning “to mourn; to grieve”

Imagine your heart (忄) feels heavy and 'down' when you mourn, and you stand alone at a funeral — the right part 卓 looks like a person standing upright with a cross above. Picture that person as a mourner at a memorial service, feeling grief in their heart.

The radical 忄 is written as two dots and a vertical line: the left dot is slightly low, the right dot is higher, and the vertical stroke goes straight down. Be careful not to confuse 悼 with 掉 (to drop) — the right side 卓 has a horizontal stroke above the 日, and the last stroke is a vertical hook, not a straight line.

悼 (dào) means 'to mourn', with the radical 忄 and phonetic 卓. 恂 (xún) means 'sincere' or 'fearful', with the same radical but the right side 旬 (xún) meaning 'ten days'. 恃 (shì) means 'to rely on', with the radical 忄 and right side 寺 (sì) meaning 'temple'. Visually, 悼 uses 卓 (tall), 恂 uses 旬, and 恃 uses 寺 — so focus on the right-side component to tell them apart.

悼 appears in formal contexts like 悼念 (to mourn/commemorate) and 哀悼 (to mourn deeply). It is used in news reports about deaths of public figures and at 追悼会 (memorial services). In Chinese culture, mourning is taken seriously, and 悼 carries a respectful, solemn tone — it is not used in casual speech.

Common words containing 悼 include: 悼念 (dào niàn) — to mourn; to commemorate; 哀悼 (āi dào) — to mourn; 追悼会 (zhuī dào huì) — Memorial service.