どう

Etymology 1
First cited to 1604 in the Portuguese work .

The initial may be cognate with the interrogative  seen in, ,.

Alternatively, possibly from older form, much like the shift from → , or  →. This shift is apparently suggested in the  entry of Dǒxô, presumably. However, the expected entries dǒ or dǒxô are missing from the 1603 .

The kanji spelling is an example of, using the corresponding Chinese term for the spelling and the underlying Japanese root word for the reading.

Adverb

 * 1) in what manner, how
 * 2) what about... (used to make a suggestion)
 * 1) what about... (used to make a suggestion)
 * 1) what about... (used to make a suggestion)
 * 1) what about... (used to make a suggestion)
 * 1) what about... (used to make a suggestion)
 * 1) what about... (used to make a suggestion)
 * 1) what about... (used to make a suggestion)
 * 1) what about... (used to make a suggestion)
 * 1) what about... (used to make a suggestion)
 * 1) what about... (used to make a suggestion)

Usage notes
The term dō is generally considered more prosaic and informal than the synonym.

Interjection

 * 1) Casual greeting: Howdy? What's new? What's up?
 * 2) Casual question: It works? Is it OK?
 * 3) Call out to horses or cows to control/stop them: Ho! Hoy! Whoa!
 * 1) Call out to horses or cows to control/stop them: Ho! Hoy! Whoa!
 * 1) Call out to horses or cows to control/stop them: Ho! Hoy! Whoa!