do / ど
The last of the D row — と with two tiny ticks (゛) becomes 'do'. Opens the all-purpose interrogatives どこ (where), どれ (which), どう (how).
Pronunciation
The character ど represents the syllable 'do', a hard 'd' followed by 'o'. It is と with the dakuten that voices 't' to 'd'.
ど is と (to) plus the dakuten ゛. It's the gateway to the Japanese interrogative system: どこ (doko, "where"), どれ (dore, "which one"), どう (dou, "how"), どんな (donna, "what kind"), どちら (dochira, "which direction / which one (formal)"), どうして (doushite, "why"). It also anchors uncountable nouns — うどん (udon, the thick noodle), 窓 (mado, "window"), 子ども (kodomo, "child"). Word-initial ど is /do/; mid-word stays /do/.
How to write ど
Trace ど on the canvas at the top of the page. Animated arrows show each stroke's direction; trace along them and the stroke fills in. Each numbered step below explains what that stroke does.
Write と exactly: stroke 1 a short slanted dash near the upper middle; stroke 2 a long curving stroke that begins at the upper right of stroke 1, drops down past the bottom of the character, and exits with a small flick on the lower right.
Add the dakuten (゛): two small tick marks at the upper right. Strokes 3 and 4 are the two ticks.
Origin
Hiragana ど shares its base shape with と, which evolved from the kanji 止 (to, "to stop"). The kanji's strokes compressed into the two strokes of と; the dakuten ゛ voiced /to/ into /do/.
Common words starting with ど
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing ど by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
Reading is only half of it. Drill the hiragana you’ve learned with spaced-repetition flashcards — the fastest way to make them stick.