大 (dà): big, large, great, older (than another person), eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3])
大 (dà) is a Chinese character meaning “big.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 一 (structural) and 人 (structural). It ranks #17 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 大 a man 人 with outstretched arms. Its radical form 大 (big) appears in many related characters such as 天 (tiān, day), 太 (tài, highest), 头 (tóu, head).
Definitions
- big
- large
- great
- older (than another person)
- eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3])
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA man 人 with outstretched arms
Decomposition: ⿻一人 (layout: overlay)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 大 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 大
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 大家pronoun | dà jiā | everyone | 1 |
| 大概adjective/adverb/noun | dà gài | roughly | 3 |
| 大学noun | dà xué | university | 1 |
| 大人noun | dà ren | adult | 3 |
| 伟大adjective | wěi dà | huge | 5 |
| 大脑noun | dà nǎo | brain | 5 |
| 大约adverb | dà yuē | approximately | 4 |
| 巨大adjective | jù dà | huge | 5 |
| 强大adjective | qiáng dà | big and strong | 5 |
| 重大adjective | zhòng dà | great | 5 |
| 大事noun | dà shì | major event | 5 |
| 大量adjective | dà liàng | great amount | 4 |
| 大赛noun | dà sài | grand contest | 4 |
| 大厅noun | dà tīng | hall | 4 |
| 大夫noun | dà fū | senior official (in imperial China) | 4 |
| 大会noun | dà huì | general assembly | 5 |
| 大师noun | dà shī | great master | 6 |
| 大众noun | dà zhòng | the masses | 5 |
| 大型adjective | dà xíng | large | 5 |
| 大象noun | dà xiàng | elephant | 5 |
| 大胆adjective | dà dǎn | brazen | 5 |
| 大厦noun | dà shà | (used in the names of grand buildings such as 百老匯大廈|百老汇大厦 Broadway Mansions (in Shanghai) or 帝國大廈|帝国大厦 Empire State B... | 5 |
| 大小noun | dà xiǎo | large and small | 3 |
| 大使noun | dà shǐ | ambassador | 6 |
| 大大adverb | dà dà | greatly | 4 |
| 放大verb | fàng dà | to enlarge | 6 |
| 大衣noun | dà yī | overcoat | 3 |
| 大吃一惊 | dà chī yī jīng | (idiom) astounded | 6 |
| 扩大verb | kuò dà | to expand | 5 |
| 大伙儿pronoun | dà huǒ r | erhua variant of 大伙[da4 huo3] | 6 |
| 大地noun | dà dì | earth | 6 |
| 大学生noun | dà xué shēng | university student | 1 |
| 大多adverb | dà duō | for the most part | 5 |
| 大自然noun | dà zì rán | nature (the natural world) | 4 |
| 庞大adjective | páng dà | huge | 6 |
| 大方adjective | dà fāng | expert | 6 |
| 高大adjective | gāo dà | tall | 5 |
| 大力noun/adverb | dà lì | energetically | 5 |
| 大致adjective/adverb | dà zhì | more or less | 6 |
| 大臣noun | dà chén | chancellor (of a monarchy) | 6 |
| 大爷noun | dà yé | arrogant idler | 5 |
| 大米noun | dà mǐ | (husked) rice | 5 |
| 大巴 | dà bā | (coll.) large bus | 4 |
| 大妈noun | dà mā | father's elder brother's wife | 5 |
| 大于verb | dà yú | greater than | 5 |
| 大都adverb | dà dōu | for the most part | 6 |
| 广大adjective | guǎng dà | (of an area) vast or extensive | 5 |
| 大幅adverb | dà fú | large-format (picture, banner, photo etc) | 6 |
| 大批adjective | dà pī | large quantities of | 5 |
| 宏大adjective | hóng dà | great | 6 |
| 大洋洲noun | dà yáng zhōu | Oceania | 6 |
| 大熊猫noun | dà xióng māo | giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) | 3 |
大 appears in 100 compound words: 83 as the first character, 17 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 大 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (207)
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), a public research university in Tainan, Taiwan
Showing 12 of 207 idioms containing 大.
Example Sentences
大学毕业后，他选择在大城市找工作，希望能有更多发展机会。
Dàxué bìyè hòu, tā xuǎnzé zài dà chéngshì zhǎo gōngzuò, xīwàng néng yǒu gèng duō fāzhǎn jīhuì.
After graduating from university, he chose to find a job in a big city, hoping to have more development opportunities.
大年初一,浙大发顶刊论文:用人工智能为膜蛋...
dà nián chū yī , zhè dà fā dǐng kān lún wén yòng rén gōng zhì néng wéi mó dàn . . .
On the first day of the new year, Zhejiang University issued a top paper: using artificial intelligence for the membrane egg...
深夜,黄金、白银、原油齐涨,美股三大指数集体上涨丨..
shēn yè , huáng jīn bái yín yuán yóu qí zhǎng , měi gǔ sān dà zhǐ shǔ jí tī shǎng zhǎng 丨 . .
Late at night, gold, silver, crude oil rose, the three major U.S. stock indexes rose collectively 丨....
川AG大军注意!雅西高速成都往西昌方向多路段车多...
chuān dà jūn zhù yì ! yǎ xī gāo sù chéng dū wǎng xī chāng fāng xiàng duō lù duàn chē duō . . .
Sichuan AG army attention! Yaxi Expressway, Chengdu to Xichang direction of many sections of traffic...
大年初一,马克龙用中文拜年
dà nián chū yī , mǎ kè lóng yòng zhōng wén bài nián
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Macron paid tribute in Chinese.
央企大拜年|智惠领航,“翼”马当先!
yāng qǐ dà bài nián zhì huì lǐng háng , yì mǎ dāng xiān !
State-Owned Enterprises New Year Greetings | Smart Leadership, Soaring Ahead!
大家都喜欢音乐吗？
Dàjiā dōu xǐhuan yīnyuè ma?
Does everybody love music?
大概会花多少时间？
Dàgài huì huā duōshao shíjiān?
About how long will it take?
你的眼睛为什么那么大？
Nǐ de yǎnjing wèishénme nàme dà?
Why are your eyes so big?
最近的大卖场在哪里？
Zuì jìn de dàmàichǎng zài nǎlǐ?
Where's the nearest shopping mall?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 大 (dà) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 大 and 些?
How many strokes does 大 have?
What is the radical of 大?
What are the components of 大?
What are common words containing 大?
What characters sound the same as 大 (dà)?
Is 大 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 大 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.