Meaning
big; large; great
Chinese: 形体、数量、程度或年龄等超过一般。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “da” becomes a different word in each tone. 大 is the 4th tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 大家dà jiāeveryone; influential family; great expert
- 大学dà xuéuniversity; college
- 大学生dà xué shēnguniversity student; college student
- 不大bù dànot very (clear, far away etc); not too; not often; infrequently
- 长大zhǎng dàto grow up
Example Sentence
孩子在书声里一天一天长大。Hái zi zài shū shēng lǐ yì tiān yì tiān zhǎng dà.The child grows up day by day among the sounds of reading.
孩子Hái zichild在zàiat书shūbook声shēngsound里lǐinside一yìone天tiānday一yìone天tiānday长大zhǎng dàto grow up。
Memory Note
The character looks like a person stretching both arms wide, which helps connect it with the idea of big or great.
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
A pictograph of a person (人) standing with both arms stretched out wide — a large, open posture — so it came to mean ‘big’.
A way to remember it
A person with arms thrown wide open: ‘It’s THIS big!’