斗 Radical 68 — a dipper, a ladle; a unit of dry measure
dǒu (third tone, dipping)
a dipper, a ladle; a unit of dry measure
Radical 684 strokes0 characters
Where the shape comes from
A long-handled ladle, drawn as a bowl on a stick and shown tipped to pour — the same shape that measured out roughly ten litres of grain and gave its name to the unit, and that traced the ladle-shaped Big Dipper, 北斗, across the night sky. Grain measured out by it gives 料, material, to gauge; grain divided by it into categories gives 科, a branch of study, a department.
characters filed under 斗
No published character on HSK Guide is filed under this radical yet. Character explorer.