Si Collection, Upper Volume
Radical: Water (shuǐ)
滔
Kangxi strokes: 14
Page 643, Entry 06
Pronounced tāo. According to Tang Rhymes (Tangyun), Collected Rhymes (Jiyun), Rhyme Compendium (Yunhui), and Correct Rhymes (Zhengyun), it is pronounced tāo, same as the character for babble.
Explaining the meaning in Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters (Shuowen Jiezi): The appearance of water that is vast and boundless.
Book of Documents (Shangshu), Canon of Yao: Records the phrase vast and heaven-reaching (hàohào tāotiān).
It also refers to the appearance of a flowing current. Book of Odes (Shijing), Odes of Qi: Contains the sentence the Wen River flows vast and wide.
It further extends to mean negligence or slighting. Commentary of Zuo (Zuozhuan), Twenty-sixth Year of Duke Zhao: Contains the statement officials are not negligent.
It also refers to the name of a river. Record of King Mu, Son of Heaven (Mu Tianzi Zhuan): Records reaching the Tao River on the gengchen day.
It is also one of the eight winds. Annals of Lü Buwei (Lüshi Chunqiu): Records that the wind from the east is called the Tao wind.
It is also one of the nine lands. Huainanzi, Treatise on Topography (Dixing Xun): Records that the Rong region in the southwest is called Tao land.
According to Collected Rhymes (Jiyun), it is also pronounced táo, meaning to gather. Zhuangzi, Tian Zifang: Contains the sentence gathered before me, yet I do not know why it is so.
Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters (Shuowen Jiezi) states that the character is formed from water and the phonetic element yǎo. The element yǎo is pronounced yóu. Characters such as tāo, dǎo, tāo, and tāo all derive from the yǎo component. The character yǎo consists of a claw radical on top and a mortar component on the bottom. Characters like xiàn, yán, chǎn, and kǎn follow the xiàn component, which is pronounced xiàn. This is different in meaning from the yǎo component.
Textual verification: In Huainanzi, Treatise on Topography, it says the southern Rong region is called Tao land. Note: Following the original text, the character for west should be added before the character for south.
