大

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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[edit]

Stroke order
大-order.gif

Han character[edit]

Commons-logo.svg
See images of
Radical 37 大

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[edit]
Related characters[edit]

References[edit]

  • 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[edit]

simp. and trad.
 大

Glyph origin[edit]

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
大-bronze-shang.svg 大-oracle.svg 大-bronze.svg 大-bronze-warring.svg 大-silk.svg 大-slip.svg 大-zhou.svg 大-seal.svg 大-bigseal.svg
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[edit]

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[edit]

Note:
  • daai6-2 - “only so big/old”;
  • daai6-1 - “small”.
  • Gan
    • Note: to5 - limited (e.g. 大(姑)娘, 大(姑)爺).
    Note:
    • tōa/tā - vernacular;
    • tāi - literary.
    Note:
    • dua7 - vernacular;
    • dai6 - literary.
  • Wu
    • Note:
    • 3du - vernacular;
    • 3da - literary.
  • Xiang
    • 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[edit]

    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
      喺廣州大 / 喺广州大 [Cantonese]  ―  hai2 gwong2 zau1 daai6 [Jyutping]  ―  to grow up in Guangzhou
    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[edit]

    Derived terms from 大

    Pronunciation 2[edit]

    Note:
    • dà - variant used in 大王 (“ringleader; monarch”).
  • Cantonese
  • Hakka
  • Jin
  • Min Dong
  • Min Nan
    • 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[edit]

    大

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

    Compounds[edit]

    Derived terms from 大

    Pronunciation 3[edit]

    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[edit]

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

    Japanese[edit]

    Kanji[edit]

    大

    (grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

    Readings[edit]

    Compounds[edit]

    Compounds

    Etymology 1[edit]

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

    From Middle Chinese 大 (MC dɑiH).

    Pronunciation[edit]

    Prefix[edit]

    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[edit]

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

    Derived terms[edit]

    Etymology 2[edit]

    Kanji in this term
    大
    おお
    Grade: 1
    kun’yomi

    /opo/ → /ofo/ → /owo/ → /oː/

    From Old Japanese.

    Derived from stem 多い (ōi, “many, a large number of”). (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

    Prefix[edit]

    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
    Derived terms[edit]
    Derived terms

    References[edit]

    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[edit]

    Hanja[edit]

    大 • (dae, tae)

    1. Large.

    Compounds[edit]

    Mulam[edit]

    Adjective[edit]

    大 (lo4)

    1. big

    Vietnamese[edit]

    Han character[edit]

    References[edit]

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