大

See also: 犬, 太, 六, 丈, ㅊ, and 𝌲
大 U+5927, 大
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5927
← 夦
[U+5926] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 夨 →
[U+5928]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

大 (radical 37, 大+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 大 (K), four-corner 40030/40800, composition ⿻一人)

  1. Kangxi radical #37, ⼤.
Derived characters
  • Index:Chinese radical/大

References

  • KangXi: page 248, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5831
  • Dae Jaweon: page 492, character 25
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 520, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+5927

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 大

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 大
Shang Western Zhou Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Chu Slip and silk script Qin slip script Shizhoupian script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (大) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
馱 *daːl, *daːds
大 *daːds, *daːds
忕 *tʰaːds, *daːds, *djads
太 *tʰaːds
汰 *tʰaːds
汏 *daːds, *tʰaːd
軑 *daːds, *deːds
釱 *daːds, *deːds
达 *tʰeːds
杕 *deːds

Ideogram (指事) : a person 人 with arms stretched out as far as possible, implying the meaning of big/great/large.

Compare with 尢, which is a man with bent legs.

Compare also 文, which is a man with arms outstretched and a crest or tattoo on his chest, and to 夭, which is a man with arms outstretched and leaning to side (running).

Etymology

Three pronunciations can be found in Modern Standard Chinese:

  1. Modern dà, from Middle Chinese dɑH, from Old Chinese *lˤaːts. The phonological development from Old Chinese to Middle Chinese is irregular. Original sense: "big" (Shijing). Derived senses: "size" (Mozi), "thick" (Zhuangzi), "to respect" (Mengzi), "to respect" (Xunzi), "to extol" (Gongyang Zhuan), "to exaggerate" (Classic of Rites), "arrogant" (Guoyu), "good" (I Ching), "(of time) long" (Erya), "senior" (Shijing).
  2. Modern dài, from Middle Chinese dɑiH, from Old Chinese *lˤaːts. This Middle Chinese pronunciation-preserving (i.e. literary) pronunciation occurs only in compounds such as 大夫 (dàifu, “doctor”) and 大王 (dàiwang, “(in operas, old novels) king; ringleader”).
  3. Modern tài, from Middle Chinese tʰɑiH, from Old Chinese *l̥ˤaːts. This is the ancient form of 太 (tài, “too, excessively”) and this orthographical usage is obsolete in modern languages.

Pronunciation 2), the diphthong reading, is traditionally regarded as the correct one. However, the monophthong reading 1) has been recorded as early as Han Dynasty, and Sui-Tang rhyme books record both. Both readings are reflected in Sino-xenic readings in non-Sinitic languages, although the diphthong readings dominate in compounds. Axel Schüssler postulates that all pronunciations can eventually be traced back to liquid initials, i.e. 1,2) **laːts, 3) **hlaːts.

The three pronunciations are cognate. Within Chinese, they are cognate with 太 (OC *tʰaːds, “too, excessively”), 泰 (OC *tʰaːds, “big”), 誕 (OC *l'aːnʔ, “big, magniloquent, ridiculous”). There are no unambiguous Tibeto-Burman cognates. Proto-Tibeto-Burman *taj (“big”), from which came Written Tibetan མཐེ་བོ (mthe bo, “thumb”), Nung tʰɛ ("big, large, great"), Mikir tʰè, ketʰè ("id."), Burmese တယ် (tai, “very”), is often compared with. There is no final –s in the Tibeto-Burman words, but a –y, which, according to James Matisoff, "indicates emergent quality in stative verbs". Also compare Chinese 多 (OC *ʔl'aːl, “many, much”), 都 (OC *taː, “all”).

Pronunciation 1

Note:
  • daai6-2 - “only so big/old”;
  • daai6-1 - “small”.
Note: to5 - limited (e.g. 大(姑)娘, 大(姑)爺).
Note:
  • tōa/tā - vernacular;
  • tāi - literary.
Note:
  • dua7 - vernacular;
  • dai6 - literary.
  • Wu
    • (Shanghainese)
      • Wiktionary: du (T3); da (T3)
      • IPA (key): /d̻v̩ʷ²³/, /d̻a̱²³/
Note:
  • 3du - vernacular;
  • 3da - literary.
Note:
  • dai5 - vernacular;
  • da4 - literary.
  • Dialectal data▼
Variety Location 大 (大小)
Mandarin Beijing /ta⁵¹/
Harbin /ta⁵³/
Tianjin /tɑ⁵³/
Jinan /ta²¹/
Qingdao /ta²¹³/
Zhengzhou /ta³¹²/
Xi'an /ta⁴⁴/
Xining /ta²¹³/
Yinchuan /ta¹³/
Lanzhou /ta¹³/
Ürümqi /ta²¹³/
Wuhan /ta³⁵/
Chengdu /ta¹³/
Guiyang /ta²¹³/
Kunming /ta̠²¹²/
Nanjing /tɑ⁴⁴/
Hefei /ta⁵³/
Jin Taiyuan /ta⁴⁵/
Pingyao /tei³⁵/
/tɑ³⁵/
Hohhot /ta⁵⁵/
Wu Shanghai /da²³/
/du²³/
Suzhou /dəu³¹/
Hangzhou /dɑ¹³/
/do¹³/
Wenzhou /da²²/
/dɤu²²/
Hui Shexian /tʰa²²/
/tʰo²²/
Tunxi /tʰo¹¹/
Xiang Changsha /ta⁵⁵/
/tai¹¹/
Xiangtan /dai²¹/
Gan Nanchang /tʰo²¹/ ～娘,姑母
Hakka Meixian /tʰai⁵³/
Taoyuan /tʰɑi⁵⁵/
Cantonese Guangzhou /tai²²/
Nanning /tai²²/
Hong Kong /tai²²/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /to²²/
/tua²²/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /tuɑi²⁴²/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /tuɛ⁴⁴/
Shantou (Min Nan) /tai³⁵/
/tua³¹/
Haikou (Min Nan) /ʔda³⁵/
/ʔdua²³/
Rime
Character 大 大
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Initial (聲) 定 (7) 定 (7)
Final (韻) 泰 (25) 歌 (94)
Tone (調) Departing (H) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division (等) I I
Fanqie 徒蓋切 唐佐切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /dɑiH/ /dɑH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /dɑiH/ /dɑH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /dɑiH/ /dɑH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /dajH/ /daH/
Li
Rong		 /dɑiH/ /dɑH/
Wang
Li		 /dɑiH/ /dɑH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /dʱɑiH/ /dʱɑH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 dài duò
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 大 大
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 dà dà
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ daH › ‹ dajH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*lˤat-s/ (MC F!) /*lˤa[t]-s/
English big big

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 大 大
Reading # 1/2 2/2
No. 1934 1939
Phonetic
component		 大 大
Rime
group		 祭 祭
Rime
subdivision		 1 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 䭾 大
Old
Chinese		 /*daːds/ /*daːds/

Definitions

大

  1. of great size; big; large; huge
    Antonyms: 小 (xiǎo)
  2. big; great
  3. great of its kind
    • 昨天下大雨。  ―  Zuótiān xià dàyǔ.  ―  There was heavy rain yesterday.
    • 好大𠹻味 [Cantonese]  ―  hou2 daai6 zam6 mei6 [Jyutping]  ―  a very strong smell
  4. in a extreme manner; greatly (with a monosyllabled verb)
    大哭  ―  dà kū  ―  to cry violently
    大吃一驚 / 大吃一惊  ―  dàchīyījīng  ―  to be greatly shocked
  5. main; major
  6. well-known; successful (only applied to some occupations)
    大書法家 / 大书法家  ―  dà shūfǎjiā  ―  a well-known calligrapher
  7. mature; grown up
    ⇒ 老
  8. (dialectal) father
  9. (dialectal) father's elder or younger brother
  10. (Cantonese) small
    • 咁大 [Cantonese]  ―  gam3 daai6-1 [Jyutping]  ―  so puny
  11. (Cantonese, slang) to intimidate; to threaten
    • 你大我呀？ [Cantonese]  ―  Nei5 daai6 ngo5 aa4? [Jyutping]  ―  Are you trying to intimidate me?
  12. (Cantonese, euphemistic) number two
  13. Short for 大學／大学 (dàxué, “university”). Used only in the abbreviation of the name.
    北大  ―  Běi Dà  ―  Peking University
  14. 45th tetragram of the Taixuanjing

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Note:
  • dà - variant used in 大王 (“ringleader; monarch”).
Rime
Character 大
Reading # 1/2
Initial (聲) 定 (7)
Final (韻) 泰 (25)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 徒蓋切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /dɑiH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /dɑiH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /dɑiH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /dajH/
Li
Rong		 /dɑiH/
Wang
Li		 /dɑiH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /dʱɑiH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 dài

Definitions

大

  1. Only used in 大夫 (dàifu, “doctor”).
  2. Only used in 大城 (Dàchéng, “Daicheng, Hebei”).
  3. Only used in 大王 (dàwáng, “(in operas, old novels) king; ringleader”).

Compounds

Pronunciation 3

For pronunciation and definitions of 大 – see 太 (“too; so at the end of the sentence for emphasis}}; etc.”).
(This character, 大, is an ancient form of 太.)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (大):
  • Japanese: 大 (だい) (dai); 大 (たい) (tai)
  • Korean: 대 (大, dae)
  • Vietnamese: đại (大)

Japanese

Kanji

大

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
大
だい
Grade: 1
on’yomi

Pronunciation

Prefix

大 (hiragana だい, rōmaji dai-)

  1. big, large
    大 (だい)ピンチ
    dai-pinchi
    tremendous crisis
    大 (だい)ヒットする
    dai-hitto suru
    to become a smash hit
  2. the large part of
  3. university
  4. (religion) arch-
Usage notes

This is often the first half two-character shorthand name of universities, for example 東大 (Tokyo University, “Tōdai”)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Prefix

大 (hiragana おお, rōmaji ō-, historical hiragana おほ)

  1. big; great
    大 (おお)馬 (ば)鹿 (か)な
    ō-baka na
    extremely foolish

References

  1. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN

Korean

Hanja

大 • (dae, tae)

  1. Large.

Compounds

  • 방대 (厖大, bangdae)
  • 대음순 (大陰脣, daeeumsun, “labia majora”)
  • 적소성대 (積小成大, jeoksoseongdae)
  • 전권대사 (全權大使, jeon-gwondaesa)

Mulam

Adjective

大 (lo4)

  1. big

Vietnamese

Han character

References

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