(zhàn dòu) - to fight; battle in Mandarin
zhàndòuTraditional: 战斗
#986 of 5,000 Core 1000
Translation
to fight; battle
Word origin
战斗 (zhàndòu) 'to fight, battle' joins 战 (zhàn, 'war') and 斗 (dòu, 'to fight'). 战 (traditional 戰) pairs 戈 (gē, 'weapon') with 占 (zhàn) phonetic; 斗 is a pictograph that originally drew a ladle and was later used for 'to struggle' (the traditional 鬥 depicts two men fighting).
- Origin
- compound
- Root
- 战 (戈 weapon + 占 phonetic) + 斗 (dòu, 'to fight')
Other proposed origins
- 斗 conflates two historical characters: 斗 a pictograph of a ladle, and 鬥 a pictograph of two combatants; the 'fight' sense here descends from 鬥. (斗 / 鬥 (dòu))
Stroke order
战
斗
Examples
烈。
The battle was fierce.
。
They kept fighting to the end.
。
The fighter jets have taken off.
。
The soldiers fought bravely.
。
He was wounded in battle.
战斗 (zhàn dòu) means to fight or battle.
Add to review queue
Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.
Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 20.