大(dà)

HSK 13 strokes
Readingsdàdài

big

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Stroke order animation

Character information

Pinyin
dà / dài
Meaning
big; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]); greatly; freely; fully; (dialect) father; (dialect) uncle (father's brother)
Strokes
3
HSK level
HSK 1
Traditional
Same

Origin & structure

Where 大 comes from and how its parts fit together.

Ideograph⿻一人

A man 人 with outstretched arms

A combination of parts whose meanings add up to the whole.

Made of

一yī人rén

Parts are arranged overlaid.

How to write 大 step by step

3 strokes — each frame adds one stroke, shown in dark ink over the lighter ones.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

Words with 大

Common words using 大 — tap any character to open its stroke-order page.

bù不dà大
HSK 1

not very; not too; not often

Open 不大 page →
yī一dà大zǎo早
HSK 7-9

at dawn

Open 一大早 page →
kǎn侃dà大shān山
HSK 7-9

to chatter idly

Open 侃大山 page →
jiāo交dà大

Jiaotong University; University of Communications; abbr. of 交通大學|交通大学[Jiao1…

Open 交大 page →
rén人dà大

Renmin University of China (abbr. for 中國人民大學|中国人民大学[Zhong1 guo2 Ren2 min2 D…

Open 人大 page →
bù不shí识dà大tǐ体

to fail to see the larger issue (idiom)

Open 不识大体 page →
bù不gù顾dà大jú局

to give no consideration to the bigger picture (usually implying selfishness)

Open 不顾大局 page →
shì世zōng宗dà大wáng王

Sejong the Great or Sejong Daewang (1397-1450), reigned 1418-1450 as fourth king of Jos…

Open 世宗大王 page →

Related characters

More HSK 1 characters

一七三上下不东两

From 大’s common words

不一早侃山交人识

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