Tao

¹ American  

[dou, tou] / daʊ, taʊ /

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. (in philosophical Taoism) that in virtue of which all things happen or exist.

2. the rational basis of human activity or conduct.

3. a universal, regarded as an ideal attained to a greater or lesser degree by those embodying it.

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Tao ² American  

[tou] / taʊ /

noun

1. Yami.

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Tao British  

/ taʊ /

noun

1. that in virtue of which all things happen or exist

2. the rational basis of human conduct

3. the course of life and its relation to eternal truth

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Etymology

Origin of Tao¹

First recorded in 1730–40; from Chinese (Wade-Giles) Tao4, (pinyin) dào literally, “path, way, right way”

Origin of Tao²

From Tao: literally, “human being”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Tao

“There’s a passage on the Tao Te Ching that reflects on how heavy it is to possess a fortune in gold,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

As Tao described their inner monologue: “It’s too hard—I’m not going to try.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

For Gallo and his team of Aditya Aney, Tao Pan and William Koor, “both the AI and private credit universes face significant volatility.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

Shortly after the crash, Zhu Tao, aviation safety office director at the CAA told reporters that they did not have a clear assessment of the cause for the crash.

From BBC ● May 5, 2026

Here, with tougher terrain and with a much larger territory, Tao Tao faced greater challenges when it came to finding bamboo, water, and shelter.

From "Camp Panda" by Catherine Thimmesh