The kanji 倒 essentially means "to fall," "to collapse," or "to topple." It suggests a loss of balance, a downward movement, or a state of being overturned. This can apply to physical objects, but it can also be used metaphorically to describe the downfall of a person or institution.

・On-yomi (音読み): とう (tō) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): たお（れる） (tao(reru)) - to fall, to collapse; たお（す） (tao(su)) - to knock down, to fell

⚫︎地震で家が倒れた。 Translation: The house collapsed due to the earthquake. ⚫︎彼はライバルを倒すために努力した。 Translation: He worked hard to defeat his rival. ⚫︎転んで倒れてしまった。 Translation: I fell down.

The kanji 倒 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left side is the radical 人 (nin, hito) meaning "person." The right side is 到 (tō), which suggests the sound and originally meant "to arrive." Combined, it can be understood as "a person arriving [in a state of falling]" or "a person falling down." The radical 人 (person) on the side gives the kanji a sense of action related to people.