dao
Eastern philosophical path
Dao is an alternate romanization of the Chinese concept more commonly spelled tao—the fundamental principle underlying the universe in Chinese philosophy, literally meaning "the way" or "the path." The spelling with d reflects the pinyin system of romanization, while tao uses the older Wade-Giles system.
Dao also refers to a type of Chinese single-edged sword with a curved blade, used historically by soldiers and still practiced in martial arts: He demonstrated the dao form in his wushu routine. (Capitalized DAO is an acronym for decentralized autonomous organization.)