～道
～どう · ～dou · JLPT N2 · noun
way
🛣️ The dō of judo and kendo: the Way, as an art or as an actual road
道 = 辶 (walking) + 首 (head): the path you walk head-first along. As a suffix it names roads, as in 歩道 hodō (sidewalk) and 国道 kokudō (national highway), and also arts as a path, as in 柔道 jūdō (the gentle way).
道 — 辶 (walk) + 首 (head)
Originally a compound of 辶 'walk/movement' and 首 'head', depicting a path one walks while looking ahead. The literal sense 'road, way' extended metaphorically to 'method, doctrine, the Way (Dao)'. This philosophical meaning became central in Daoist and Confucian thought.