Editing Tao (section)

===Orthography===
{{multiple image|align=right|direction=vertical
|image1=道-bronze.svg|caption1=[[Bronze script]]
|image2=道-silk.svg|caption2=[[Bamboo and wooden slips|Chu slip and silk script]]
|image3=道-bigseal.svg|caption3=[[Large seal script]]
|image4=道-seal.svg|caption4=[[Small seal script]]
}}
"Tao" is written with the Chinese character {{zhi|c=道}} using both [[Traditional Chinese|traditional]] and [[Simplified Chinese|simplified]] characters. The traditional graphical interpretation of {{zhi|c=道}} dates back to the ''[[Shuowen Jiezi]]'' dictionary published in 121 CE, which describes it as a rare "compound ideogram" or "[[Chinese character classification#Ideogrammatic compounds|ideographic compound]]". According to the ''Shuowen Jiezi'', {{zhi|c=道}} combines the 'go' radical {{zhi|c=辶}} (a variant of {{zhi|c=辵}}) with {{zhi|c=首|l=head}}. This construction signified a "head going" or "leading the way".

"Tao" is graphically distinguished between its earliest nominal meaning of 'way', 'road', 'path', and the later verbal sense of 'say'. It should also be contrasted with {{zhi|c=導|l=lead the way', 'guide', 'conduct', 'direct}}. The simplified character {{zhi|s=导}} for {{zhi|c=導}} has {{zhi|c=巳|l=6th of the 12 [[Earthly Branches]]}} in place of {{zhi|c=道}}.

The earliest written forms of "Tao" are [[bronzeware script]] and [[seal script]] characters from the [[Zhou dynasty]] (1045–256 BCE) bronzes and writings. These ancient forms more clearly depict the {{zhi|c=首|l=head}} element as hair above a face. Some variants interchange the 'go' radical {{zhi|c=辵}} with {{zhi|c=行|l=go', 'road}}, with the original bronze "crossroads" depiction written in the seal character with two {{zhi|c=彳}} and {{zhi|c=亍|l=footprints}}.

Bronze scripts for {{zhi|c=道}} occasionally include an element of {{zhi|c=手|l=hand}} or {{zhi|c=寸|l=thumb', 'hand}}, which occurs in {{zhi|c=導|l=lead}}. The linguist [[Peter A. Boodberg]] explained,
<blockquote>This "''tao'' with the hand element" is usually identified with the modern character {{zhi|c=導}} ''tao'' < ''d'ôg'', 'to lead,', 'guide', 'conduct', and considered to be a ''derivative'' or verbal cognate of the noun ''tao'', "way," "path." The evidence just summarized would indicate rather that "''tao'' with the hand" is but a ''variant'' of the basic ''tao'' and that the word itself combined both nominal and verbal aspects of the etymon. This is supported by textual examples of the use of the primary ''tao'' in the verbal sense "to lead" (e. g., ''Analects'' 1.5; 2.8) and seriously undermines the unspoken assumption implied in the common translation of Tao as "way" that the concept is essentially a nominal one. Tao would seem, then, to be etymologically a more dynamic concept than we have made it translation-wise. It would be more appropriately rendered by "lead way" and "lode" ("way," "course," "journey," "leading," "guidance"; cf. "lodestone" and "lodestar"), the somewhat obsolescent deverbal noun from "to lead."{{sfnp|Boodberg|1957|p=599}}</blockquote>
These Confucian ''[[Analects]]'' citations of ''dao'' verbally meaning 'to guide', 'to lead' are: "The Master said, 'In guiding a state of a thousand chariots, approach your duties with reverence and be trustworthy in what you say" and "The Master said, 'Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with punishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame."{{sfnp|Lau|1979|loc=p. 59,  1.5; p. 63, 2.8}}