Tao
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The art or skill of doing something in harmony with the essential nature of the thing. broadly, uncountable, usually
"the tao of sex... the tao of the heart... the tao of integuments..."
- 2 Alternative form of tao (“art or skill in harmony with essential nature”). alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable
- 3 Initialism of thyroid-associated orbitopathy. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
- 4 the ultimate principle of the universe wordnet
- 5 Synonym of circuit: various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China. historical, obsolete, uncountable, usually
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- 6 an adherent of any branch of Taoism wordnet
- 1 Alternative letter-case form of Tao: the way of nature or way to live one's life. Chinese, alt-of
"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."
- 2 In Taoism, The Way, specifically the transcendental basis of nature and, and/or the ideal way to live one's life. Chinese
"Nor is progress exclusively a Western invention. Many interpret the Tao of ancient China as a guide for those who wish to progress as they make their way forward in the world—though its conception of progress is very different from what emerged in the West."
- 3 A unisex given name from Mandarin.
- 4 A surname from Mandarin.
"When mathematicians face a question they cannot answer, they sometimes devise a less stringent question, in the hope that solving it will provide insights. This is the path that Tao took in 2004, in collaboration with Ben Green of Oxford."
- 5 an Austronesian ethnic group native to Orchid Island (Lanyu) of Lanyu, Taitung County, Taiwan
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- 6 a historical region of Georgia (country) historical
Example
More examples"Humans, nature and the heavens are considered to exist in a state of constant transformation, known as Tao, in contrast with the typical static view of nature in Western thinking."
Etymology
From the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 道 (tao⁴).
From the Wade–Giles romanization of Mandarin 道 (Dào, literally “The Way”): Tao⁴.
Borrowed from Mandarin 陶 (Táo).
Borrowed from Yami Tao (“the Tao/Yami language”), from Yami tao (“human; person”), from Proto-Philippine *tau, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Austronesian *Cau. Compare Ibatan tawo, Tagalog tao, Ilocano tao.
Borrowed from Georgian ტაო (ṭao).
Related phrases
More for "tao"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.