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大

Mandarin · pinyin dà#

Mandarin · pinyin dài#

see 大夫 dài fu

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Characters in this entry

大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4 · da4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 25 senses · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daai6 · taai3

Cantonese word readings for 大. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

character

of great size; big; large; huge
big; great
great of its kind
in an extreme manner; greatly
main; major
well-known; successful (only applied to some occupations)
mature; grown up
(of a place) greater (together with the surrounding area pertaining to it)
(Cantonese) to grow up
(Cantonese) to be older than
(dialectal) father
(dialectal) father's elder or younger brother
(Cantonese, slang) to intimidate; to threaten
(Cantonese) only so big
(Cantonese, euphemistic) number two
(abbreviation, alt-of) short for 大學／大学 (dàxué, “university”) Used only in the abbreviation of the name.
45th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "greatness" (𝌲)
a surname

character

used in 大夫 (dàifu, “doctor”)
used in 大王 (dàiwáng, “(in operas, old novels, etc.) king; ringleader”)
used in 大黃／大黄 (dàihuáng, “rhubarb”)
used in 大城 (Dàichéng, “Daicheng, Hebei”)
(alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 待 (“to be about to; to intend to”)
(alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 代 (dài, “dynasty”)

character

(Cantonese) small

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