section_path: Terminology/Spelling and pronunciation
section_name: Spelling and pronunciation
paragraph_text: Spelling and pronunciation
  
  "Taoism" and "Daoism" are alternate spellings of the same word. "Tao" is in the Wade-Giles romanization system, which until the late 20th century was predominant in English-speaking countries and remains in use for certain terms with strongly established spellings. "Dao" is the spelling in the Hanyu Pinyin system, officially adopted in China in the 1950s, which has largely replaced Wade–Giles.
  
  The Standard Chinese pronunciation of both romanizations of the character "Dao" is the same, that is, /daʊ/, much like the English "dow". One authority calls the pronunciation with a < t> as in "tie" to be a "mispronunciation" originally caused by the "clumsy Wade-Giles system," which misled most readers.