Read The Tao Teh King in English — and understand every line.
Read “The Tao Teh King” by Laozi in English. Tap any word for its meaning, hear how it sounds, and save it to a memory-driven review schedule.
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DICTIONARY
TRANSLATION
apreciar, atesorar
to feel warm affection for; to hold something dear.
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The opening
How “The Tao Teh King” begins
The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao.
The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.
(Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things.
Always without desire we must be found, If its deep mystery we would sound; But if desire always within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.
Public domain — the whole book is yours to read in the app.
Vocabulary
Words to know before you start
The 30 words you will meet most often in “The Tao Teh King” at level B2 and above, with how many times each one appears.
- heaven
- thus
- sage
- possess
- seek
- kingdom
- desire
- firm
- attribute
- overcome
- excellence
- root
- hence
- govern
- hold
- dare
- endure
- diminish
- strive
- sincere
- calamity
- display
- accomplish
- arise
- vessel
- mysterious
- attain
- strike
- faith
- affair
The meanings here are the everyday ones. In the reader, tap a word to see the sense this sentence uses.
Grammar
Grammar you will meet in “The Tao Teh King”
How much of each kind of grammar “The Tao Teh King” uses, counted in the sentences the Reader marks: per 10,000 words, compared with the other books in the library.
- Relative clauses
- Passive voice
- Modal verbs
- Perfect tenses
- -ing forms and to-infinitives
- Reported speech
- Phrasal verbs
Constructions to look for
- Subject relative clause with who/that/which He who overcomes others is strong; he who overcomes himself is mighty.
Counted the way the Reader shows it: one card per construction in a sentence. Open the book in the Reader and tap a highlighted phrase to see the rule.
Library
What you get while you read
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Tap to translate
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Save what matters
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Grammar in context
Notable structures light up in the text, with a short explanation tied to the sentence you're reading.
About the book
Why The Tao Teh King is a great book to read in English
Eighty-one brief chapters of paradox and quiet advice attributed to Laozi — on water that wears down stone, leaders who are barely noticed, and strength that looks like yielding. The shortest book in the library, and one you can reread for years; the Chinese original sits beside the English line by line.
On LangOrbit you read “The Tao Teh King” with a safety net: the translation is one tap away when a sentence runs long, every word opens its meaning in context and can be saved for spaced-repetition review, and the grammar behind the trickier lines is explained right where you meet it.
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More books to read in English
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The Tao Teh King
Read “The Tao Teh King” by Laozi in English. Tap any word for its meaning, hear how it sounds, and save it to a memory-driven review schedule.
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