怠 (dài): idle, lazy, negligent

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

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

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. idle
  2. lazy
  3. negligent

Etymology & Origin

怠

pictophoneticmind

Decomposition: ⿱台心 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
怠慢verbdài mànto slight
倦怠adjectivejuàn dàiworn out
懈怠adjectivexiè dàislack
怠工verbdài gōngto slacken off in one's work
职业倦怠症zhí yè juàn dài zhèngprofessional boredom syndrome
不怠bù dàiunremitting in one's efforts
怠速dài sù(automotive) idling
不懈怠bù xiè dàiuntiring
怠忽dài hūto neglect
懒怠lǎn dàilazy
怠惰adjectivedài duòidleness
11
Total compounds
45
As first character
45
As last character
9
As middle character

怠 appears in 11 compound words: 45 as the first character, 45 as the last, and 9 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 怠 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

懈xiè
0.726836 co-occurrences
惰duò
0.716738 co-occurrences
倦juàn
0.675572 co-occurrences
熄xī
0.554146 co-occurrences
慢màn
0.513558 co-occurrences
忽hū
0.468206 co-occurrences
骄jiāo
0.43834 co-occurrences
勿wù
0.43339 co-occurrences
懒lǎn
0.43318 co-occurrences
弛chí
0.41922 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

虽然失败了,但他怠不气馁,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.

IT之家Aug 2026

还有一些开发者每天长时间进行氛围编程,最终陷入疲惫和倦怠。

hái yǒu yī xiē kāi fā zhě měi tiān cháng shí jiān jìn háng fēn wéi biān chéng , zuì zhōng xiàn rù pí bèi hé juàn dài .

There are also some developers who spend long hours every day working on atmospheric programming, eventually falling into a state of exhaustion and burnout.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

典型症状为头晕、倦怠、口渴、眼花、大汗、胸闷、心烦等。

diǎn xíng zhèng zhuàng wéi tóu yūn , juàn dài , kǒu kě , yǎn huā , dà hàn , xiōng mēn , xīn fán děng .

Typical symptoms include dizziness, fatigue, thirst, blurred vision, profuse sweating, chest tightness, and restlessness.

東方日報Mar 2026

...方日报产评】全力拓人币体系 港金融发展勿怠

. . . 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 港金融发展勿怠

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:美国大兵消极怠战

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,是不会倦怠的爱。

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

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 心 (mind) component

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 9 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 11 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 怠 (dài)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dài: 殆 ((literary) dangerous), 代 (to be a substitute for), 带 (band), 待 (to wait). 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 怠 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.