(dài): idle, lazy, negligent

(dài) is a Chinese character meaning “idle.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #2760 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, mind. Its radical form (heart) appears in many related characters such as (máng, busy), (kuài, fast, happy), (zěn, how).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. idle
  2. lazy
  3. negligent

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmind

Decomposition: ⿱台心 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
dài mànto slight
juàn dàiworn out
xiè dàislack
dài gōngto slacken off in one's work
zhí yè juàn dài zhèngprofessional boredom syndrome
bù dàiunremitting in one's efforts
bù xiè dàiuntiring
dài hūto neglect
lǎn dàilazy
dài duòidleness
10
Total compounds
40
As first character
50
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 10 compound words: 40 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 10 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

xiè
0.7362,508 co-occurrences
duò
0.7262,214 co-occurrences
juàn
0.6701,698 co-occurrences
0.562438 co-occurrences
màn
0.5211,674 co-occurrences
0.475618 co-occurrences
jiāo
0.444102 co-occurrences
lǎn
0.43954 co-occurrences
chí
0.42566 co-occurrences
gǎn
0.418372 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

虽然失败了,但他不气馁,继续努力。

suī rán shī bài le , dàn tā dài bù qì něi , jì xù nǔ lì .

Though he failed, he did not lose heart and continued to persevere.

東方日報Mar 2026

...方日报产评】全力拓人币体系 港金融发展勿

. . . fāng rì bào chǎn píng quán lì tuò rén bì tǐ xì gǎng jīn róng fā zhǎn wù dài

...[Fang Daily Industry Review] Full Efforts to Expand the Renminbi System: Hong Kong Must Not Slacken Its Financial Development

東方日報Mar 2026

产评:全力拓人币体系 港金融发展勿

chǎn píng : quán lì tuò rén bì tǐ xì gǎng jīn róng fā zhǎn wù dài

Editorial: Full Efforts to Expand the Renminbi System; Hong Kong Must Not Neglect Its Financial Development

東方日報Mar 2026

横眉冷看:美国大兵消极

héng méi lěng kàn : měi guó dà bīng xiāo jí dài zhàn

A Critical Look: U.S. Soldiers Showing a Lack of Motivation in Combat

Tatoeba

不要觉得真诚的爱必需惊天动地。我们需要的,是不会倦的爱。

Bù yào juéde zhēnchéng de ài bìxū jīngtiāndòngdì. wǒmen xūyào de, shì bù huì juàndài de ài.

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced dài

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 怠 (dài) mean in Chinese?
怠 (dài) primarily means "idle." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2760 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 怠 and 始?
怠 (dài) and 始 (shǐ) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 忄 vs 女 (same 台 component).
How many strokes does 怠 have?
怠 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 怠?
The radical associated with 怠 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 怠?
怠 is composed of: 台 (phonetic), 心 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱台心 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 怠?
Common words with 怠 include: 怠慢 (dài màn, "to slight"); 倦怠 (juàn dài, "worn out"); 懈怠 (xiè dài, "slack"); 怠工 (dài gōng, "to slacken off in one's work"); 职业倦怠症 (zhí yè juàn dài zhèng, "professional boredom syndrome"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 怠 (dài)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dài: 呆 (foolish), 歹 (bad), 逮 ((coll.) to catch), 代 (to be a substitute for), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 怠 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 怠 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.