大頭佛

简 大头佛 · 繁 大頭佛
Cantonese · source Jyutpingdaai6 tau4 fat6

Meanings

  1. a serious issue or problem; a messy situation; a cock-up; the big Buddha head mask used in lion dancing during festivals; to describe someone with no brains
About these definitions

Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.

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Reading & tones

Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.

Same syllable, six tones

daaidaai1—歹daai2bad带daai3banddaai4—daai5—大daai6
fat弗fat1notfat2—fat3—fat4—fat5—罚fat6to punish

Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.

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Written characters

Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.

Cantonese characters and the Mandarin bridge ↗

Mandarin comparison · separate source entries

CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: da4 tou2 fo2. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daai6 tau4 fat6

Cantonese word readings for 大頭佛. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

  1. (Cantonese) mask with a smiley face, often used in a lion dance (Classifier: 個/个 c)
  2. (Cantonese) big trouble; complete mess; chaos (See also 頭大 /头大 (tau⁴ daai⁶)) (Classifier: 個/个 c)
  3. (Cantonese) motorcycle full face helmet (Classifier: 個/个 c; 頂/顶 c)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

CC-Canto · Pleco Inc. · edition 2017-02-02
Source line 5,444 · Original publisher · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Edition & transformations
Exact source record & identity大頭佛 大头佛 [da4 tou2 fo2] {daai6 tau4 fat6} /a serious issue or problem; a messy situation; a cock-up; the big Buddha head mask used in lion dancing during festivals; to describe someone with no brains/

SHA-256: 50e680bbd46bf7d6852cac30cb6983d3e23e867feb48f100ece6652a79ef7ece