大

Stroke order

Stroke order

See images of
Radical 37 大

大 (Kangxi radical 37, 大+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 大 (K), four-corner 4003₀ or 4080₀, composition ⿻一人 or ⿸𠂇㇏)

1. Kangxi radical #37, ⼤.

• Appendix:Chinese radical/大
• 达, 庆 (Simplified from 達, 慶)
• 㐲, 𫥰, 𠯈, 𡉑, 𡚻, 𢁖, 𫸥, 㣕, 忕, 𢪂, 汏, 𫔺, 𫻨, 𭥏, 杕, 𣧂, 𬌚, 𪼳, 𭾚, 𮀋, 𥝛, 𮕨, 𬚓, 𦨐, 𮗹, 軑(轪), 釱, 𭖯, 𮌙, 馱(驮), 䲦, 𬵃(𬶃), 𪐝, 𠏥, 𠧭, 䲪
• 犬, 矢, 㕦, 尖, 𢎴, 芖, 𠛇, 戻, 旲, 𬋻, 㺯, 𡭟, 𥝚, 𥤮, 𦉼, 𬺛, 𡧠, 类, 美, 耎, 𦤀, 𬟧, 䙲, 𠧵, 𩵋, 𡟗, 𦳣, 䯨, 𥈀, 𮮰, 𪉗, 𥮯, 𣊖, 樊, 𫂎, 𩃙, 𤳦, 𤾪, 𪚔, 𧹈
• 冭, 厺, 圶, 㞭, 𪩣, 𪵪, 𤆍, 𬉵, 𤯗, 𭀢, 㭐, 羍, 𦏷, 耷, 𧈹, 牵, 𧥢, 𩇩, 𣫵, 𥆗, 𩡱, 𩾪, 𪐡, 𬹞, 𡗜, 爽, 㻎, 𥇛, 𠾖, 𨳓, 因, 輋(𪨶)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 248, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5831
• Dae Jaweon: page 492, character 25
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 520, character 1
• Unihan data for U+5927

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 大 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 大 (Cantonese)

Historical forms of the character 大
Shang		Western Zhou		Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)		Liushutong (compiled in Ming)	Libian (compiled in Qing)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	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	Clerical script

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 立, similar to 大, and 交, in which the legs are crossed.

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 or marching vigorously).

See the top component of 泰 in the original version (𡙌). Related to 太. Unrelated to 买, in which the bottom component is the stylization of a cowrie.

Cognate with 太 (OC *tʰaːds, “too, excessively”), 泰 (OC *tʰaːds, “big”). Wang (1982) also lists 誕 (OC *l'aːnʔ, “big, magniloquent, ridiculous”) as a cognate, which Schuessler (2007) suggests is cognate with 延 (OC *lan, *lans, “to extend”) instead. There are no unambiguous Tibeto-Burman cognates. Proto-Tibeto-Burman *taj (“big”), from which came Written Tibetan མཐེ་བོ (mthe bo, “thumb”), Anong tʰɛ (“big, large, great”), Mikir tʰè, ketʰè (“big, large, great”), 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”).

大

1. of great size; big; large; huge

   Antonym: 小 (xiǎo)

   這個太大了！／这个太大了！  ―  Zhè ge tài dà le!  ―  This is too big!

   呢條褲好大條。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   呢条裤好大条。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ni¹ tiu⁴ fu³ hou² daai⁶ tiu⁴.

   This pair of pants is very big.

2. big; great

   中美關係已有很大改善。 [MSC, trad.]
   中美关系已有很大改善。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhōng Měi guānxì yǐ yǒu hěn dà gǎishàn.

   Relations between China and America have improved greatly.

   大不列顛／大不列颠  ―  Dàbùlièdiān  ―  Great Britain

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   ―  a very strong smell

4. in an extreme manner; greatly

   大哭  ―  dà kū  ―  to cry violently

   大吃一驚／大吃一惊  ―  dàchīyījīng  ―  to be greatly shocked

   大不相同  ―  dà bù xiàngtóng  ―  to be greatly different

   你遇到這種情況，大可以走人哪。 [MSC, trad.]
   你遇到这种情况，大可以走人哪。 [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ yùdào zhè zhǒng qíngkuàng, dà kěyǐ zǒurén na.

   If you come across this kind of situation, you absolutely can leave.

   你可不知道，他昨兒過來大折騰了一場。好家伙，差點兒沒把這兒拆嘍！ [dialectal Mandarin, trad.]
   你可不知道，他昨儿过来大折腾了一场。好家伙，差点儿没把这儿拆喽！ [dialectal Mandarin, simp.]

   Nǐ kě bù zhīdào, tā zuór guòlai dà zhēteng le yī chǎng. Hǎojiāhuo, chàdiǎnr méi bǎ zhèr chāi lou!

   You don't even know, yesterday he came over and wildly stirred up trouble. Oh my God, he almost tore this place apart!

5. main; major

   Antonym: 小 (xiǎo)

   他們將車一直開到大門口。 [MSC, trad.]
   他们将车一直开到大门口。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tāmen jiāng chē yīzhí kāi dào dà ménkǒu.

   They drove right up to the main gate.

   他是一家石油公司的大股東。 [MSC, trad.]
   他是一家石油公司的大股东。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tā shì yījiā shíyóu gōngsī de dà gǔdōng.

   He is a major stockholder in an oil company.

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

   See also: 老

   Antonym: 小 (xiǎo)

   你多大了？  ―  Nǐ duō dà le?  ―  How old are you?

   她比他大。  ―  Tā bǐ tā dà.  ―  She is older than him.

   你隻狗係咁大㗎喇。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   你只狗系咁大㗎喇。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   nei⁵ zek³ gau² hai⁶ gam³ daai^6-2 gaa³ laa³.

   Your dog isn't going to grow any older.

8. (of a place) greater (together with the surrounding area pertaining to it)

   大北京地區／大北京地区  ―  Dà Běijīng Dìqū  ―  Greater Beijing Area

9. (Cantonese) to grow up

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

10. (Cantonese) to be older than

    Antonym: 細／细 (xì)

    我大佢兩年。 [Cantonese, trad.]
    我大佢两年。 [Cantonese, simp.]

    ngo⁵ daai⁶ keoi⁵ loeng⁵ nin⁴.

    I am older than them by two years.

11. (dialectal) father
12. (dialectal) father's elder or younger brother
13. (Cantonese, slang) to intimidate; to threaten

    你大我呀？ [Cantonese]  ―  nei⁵ daai⁶ ngo⁵ aa⁴?   ―  Are you trying to intimidate me?

    你咪大我。 [Cantonese]  ―  nei⁵ mai⁵ daai⁶ ngo⁵.   ―  Don't you threaten me.

14. (Cantonese) only so big

    咁高咁大 [Cantonese]  ―  gam³ gou¹ gam³ daai^6-2   ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

15. (Cantonese, euphemistic) number two

    我好急呀，要去大。 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

    ngo⁵ hou² gap¹ aa³, jiu³ heoi³ daai⁶.

    I'm very desperate and need to go number two.

16. Short for 大學／大学 (dàxué, “university”). Used only in the abbreviation of the name.

    北大  ―  Běidà  ―  Peking University

17. 45th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "greatness" (𝌲)
18. a surname