大乘

Mandarin · pinyin Dà shèng

Meanings

  1. Mahayana, the Great Vehicle
  2. Buddhism based on the Mayahana sutras, as spread to Central Asia, China and beyond
  3. also pr. Dà chéng
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Characters in this entry

大
dà · big, great, vast, large, high
乘
chéng · ride, ascend; avail oneself of; numerary adjunct for vehicles
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4 · Da4 sheng4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daai6 sing4

Cantonese word readings for 大乘. 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.

name

  1. (Buddhism) Mahayana

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

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

大乘 · Da4 sheng4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 27,699
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record大乘 大乘 [Da4 sheng4] /Mahayana, the Great Vehicle/Buddhism based on the Mayahana sutras, as spread to Central Asia, China and beyond/also pr. [Da4 cheng2]/