呆 (dāi): foolish, stupid, expressionless, blank, variant of 待
呆 (dāi) is a Chinese character meaning “foolish.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (structural) and 木 (structural). It ranks #1330 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 呆 one with wooden 木 speech 口. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).
Definitions
- foolish
- stupid
- expressionless
- blank
- variant of 待
Etymology & Origin
ideographicOne with wooden 木 speech 口
Decomposition: ⿱口木 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 呆 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 呆子noun | dāi zi | fool |
| 书呆子noun | shū dāi zi | bookworm |
| 痴呆adjective | chī dāi | stupid |
| 呆板adjective | dāi bǎn | stiff |
| 老年痴呆症noun | lǎo nián chī dāi zhèng | senile dementia |
| 发呆verb | fā dāi | to stare blankly |
| 目瞪口呆phrase | mù dèng kǒu dāi | (idiom) dumbstruck |
| 呆滞adjective | dāi zhì | dull |
| 呆笨adjective | dāi bèn | dimwitted |
| 呆傻adjective | dāi shǎ | stupid |
| 呆帐 | dāi zhàng | variant of 呆賬|呆账 |
| 呆账noun | dāi zhàng | bad debt |
| 天然呆noun | tiān rán dāi | (loanword from Japanese "tennen boke") space cadet |
| 呆会儿 | dāi huì r | variant of 待會兒|待会儿 |
| 看呆 | kàn dāi | to gape at |
呆 appears in 34 compound words: 47 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 21 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 呆 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (5)
Example Sentences
他在那里发呆，不知道在想些什么。
Tā zài nàlǐ fādāi, bù zhīdào zài xiǎng xiē shénme.
He was sitting there in a daze, wondering what he was thinking about.
8旬妇忘记回家的路呆坐杂货店 警靠这招找到家属助相聚
8 xún fù wàng jì huí jiā de lù dāi zuò zá huò diàn jǐng kào zhè zhāo zhǎo dào jiā shǔ zhù xiāng jù
An 80-year-old woman forgot her way home and sat motionless in a grocery store; police used this method to locate her family and reunite them
周晓涵“弯腰签名”神角度太狂 网友惊呆:根本Jisoo
zhōu xiǎo hán wān yāo qiān míng shén jiǎo dù tài kuáng wǎng yǒu jīng dāi : gēn běn J i s o o
Zhou Xiaohan’s “bending-over autograph” angle is insane—netizens are stunned: She looks just like Jisoo
...起竞争心 员工反“斗Hea博炒”令主管看呆
. . . qǐ jìng zhēng xīn yuán gōng fǎn dǒu H e a bó chǎo lìng zhǔ guǎn kàn dāi
...When employees got competitive, their refusal to "slack off and chase promotions" left their managers speechless
日本逛一半!2台人“日币换算台币”算法惊呆 网推爆:这样最快
rì běn guàng yī bàn ! 2 tái rén rì bì huàn suàn tái bì suàn fǎ jīng dāi wǎng tuī bào : zhè yàng zuì kuài
Japan is half shopping! 2 Taiwanese people were stunned by the "Japanese currency to Taiwan dollar" algorithm and pushed the Internet to explode: This is the fastest
神情呆滯不哭鬧!剴剴生前的心碎影像曝
shén qíng dāi 滯 bù kū 鬧 ! 剴 剴 shēng qián de xīn suì yǐng xiàng pù
Staring blankly without crying! Heartbreaking footage of Kai Kai before her death revealed
汤姆在澳大利亚呆了三年。
Tāngmǔ zài àodàlìyà dāi le sān nián.
Tom stayed in Australia for three years.
艾德蒙多认为瓦利德是书呆子。
ài dé mēng duō rènwéi Wǎlì dé shì shūdāizi.
Edmundo thought of Walid as a nerd.
我必须要在医院再呆多长的时间呢？
Wǒ bìxū yào zài yīyuàn zài dāi duō cháng de shíjiān ne?
How much longer will I have to stay in the hospital?
你在监狱里呆了多久？
Nǐ zài jiānyù lǐ dāi le duōjiǔ?
How long were you in jail?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 呆 (dāi)?
Is 呆 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 呆 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.