Pinyin Syllable

Chinese characters pronounced dai

Learn common Chinese characters pronounced dai, including 代 dài, 带 dài, 待 dāi / dài, 戴 dài, 袋 dài. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…

How to Pronounce This Syllable

Build dai by sliding from d straight into ai; the tone rides over the joined sound, so treat it as one unit.

Initial d

Start the syllable on the initial d, then run straight into the final ai — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.

Final ai

Settle the final ai into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.

Study Tip

Start with the most common characters (代 dài, 带 dài, 待 dāi / dài, 戴 dài, 袋 dài) and lock in their tones. 8 common characters share the sound dai, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.

Learn by Tone

dai turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.

1st tone

Taking the 1st tone here: 待, 呆 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

待dāi / dàistay; delay; wait; treat; deal with; need 呆dāifoolish; stupid; no expression; stay; stay; stupid

3rd tone

Taking the 3rd tone here: 逮 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

逮dǎi / dàiarrest; catch; seize; until; catch; seize

4th tone

Taking the 4th tone here: 代, 带, 戴… (5 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

代dàisubstitute; replace; generation; dynasty; geological era; era 带dàiband; belt; girdle; ribbon; area; zone 戴dàito put on; to respect; to bear; to support; wear (glasses; hat 袋dàia pouch; bag; sack; pocket 贷dàilend on interest; borrow; loan; make excuses; pardon; forgive

Common Words With This Sound

Seeing dai inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.

代表dài biǎorepresentative; delegate; to represent; to stand for 时代shí dàiage; era; epoch; period (in one's life)年代nián dàia decade of a century (e.g. the Sixties); age; era; period 带来dài láito bring; (fig.) to bring about; to produce 带领dài lǐngto guide; to lead 带动dài dòngto spur; to provide impetus; to drive 等待děng dàito wait; to wait for 对待duì dàito treat; treatment 接待jiē dàito receive; to entertain; to host (guests, visitors or clients)爱戴ài dàito love and respect; love and respect

Characters

8 common characters in this group.

Character#1 代 dàisubstitute; replace; generation; dynasty; geological era; eraTraditional: 代 Character#2 带 dàiband; belt; girdle; ribbon; area; zoneTraditional: 帶 Character#3 待 dāi / dàistay; delay; wait; treat; deal with; needTraditional: 待 Character#4 戴 dàito put on; to respect; to bear; to support; wear (glasses; hatTraditional: 戴 Character#5 袋 dàia pouch; bag; sack; pocketTraditional: 袋 Character#6 呆 dāifoolish; stupid; no expression; stay; stay; stupidTraditional: 呆 Character#7 贷 dàilend on interest; borrow; loan; make excuses; pardon; forgiveTraditional: 貸 Character#8 逮 dǎi / dàiarrest; catch; seize; until; catch; seizeTraditional: 逮