(dài): loan

(dài) is a Chinese character meaning “loan.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1594 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, money. Its radical form (shell) appears in many related characters such as (guì, abbr. for Guizhou Province 貴州|贵州[Gui4 zhou1]), (, to bear), (, responsibility).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. loan

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmoney

Decomposition: ⿱代贝 (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

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verb/noundài kuǎna loan6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
gāo lì dàihigh-interest loan
xìn dàicredit
jiè dàito borrow or lend money
huán dàito repay a loan
fàng dàito provide loans
zé wú páng dàito be duty bound
dài kuǎn rénthe lender
yán chéng bù dàito punish severely (idiom)
dài fāngcredit side (of a balance sheet)
cì jí fáng wū xìn dài wēi jīsubprime mortgage crisis
cì dài wēi jīsubprime mortgage crisis
xìn dài wēi jīcredit crisis
dài xué jīnstudent loan
xìn dài wéi yuē diào qīcredit default swap (finance)
huó qī dài kuǎndemand loan (i.e. loan that the borrower can demanded back at any time)
40
Total compounds
15
As first character
43
As last character
43
As middle character

appears in 40 compound words: 15 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 43 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.

kuǎn
0.68429,260 co-occurrences
lóng
0.62610 co-occurrences
shè
0.58115 co-occurrences
jiǎn
0.53715 co-occurrences
chá
0.51614 co-occurrences
jiè
0.5033,828 co-occurrences
guān
0.50015 co-occurrences
yín
0.4833,172 co-occurrences
é
0.4802,424 co-occurrences
0.4751,425 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

yánchéngbùdàiHSK 6+

to punish severely without mercy; to punish mercilessly

phrase
zéwúpángdàiHSK 6+

to bear an unshirkable responsibility

phrase
zhùxué dàikuǎnHSK 6+

student loan

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

银行款需要提供收入证明和抵押物。

Yínháng dàikuǎn xūyào tígōng shōurù zhèngmíng hé dǐyāwù.

Bank loans require proof of income and collateral.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

基隆检察官涉放高利羁押禁见 学者叹:损害司法人员形象

jī lóng jiǎn chá guān shè fàng gāo lì dài 羁 yā jīn jiàn xué zhě tàn : sǔn hài sī fǎ rén yuán xíng xiàng

Keelung prosecutor involved in usury detention and ban Scholars sighed: Damaging the image of judicial personnel

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

美抵押款利率跌破6% 为2022年以来最低

měi dǐ yā dài kuǎn lì lǜ diē pò 6 wéi 2 0 2 2 nián yǐ lái zuì dī

U.S. mortgage rates fell below 6%, the lowest since 2022

LtnFeb 2026

买房背千万款20年 486先生:是投资还是给自己挖...

mǎi fáng bèi qiān wàn dài kuǎn 2 0 nián 4 8 6 xiān shēng : shì tóu zī hái shì gěi zì jǐ wā . . .

Buy a house with a loan of 10 million for 20 years Mr. 486: Is it an investment or digging for yourself...

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

涉行贿800万换取款申请 反贪会捕前电讯公司董事

shè háng huì 8 0 0 wàn huàn qǔ dài kuǎn shēn qǐng fǎn tān huì bǔ qián diàn xùn gōng sī dǒng shì

Involved in bribery of 8 million yuan in exchange for loan applications The Anti-Corruption Commission arrested former telecommunications company directors

百度新闻Feb 2026

2025年国家开发银行发放公路基础设施款超360..

nián guó jiā kāi fā yín háng fā fàng gōng lù jī chǔ shè shī dài kuǎn chāo . .

2025 NDB disburses over 360 highway infrastructure loans...

Tatoeba

银行对风险客户收取较高的款利息。

Yínháng duì fēngxiǎn kèhù shōuqǔ jiào gāo de dàikuǎn lìxī.

Banks charge higher interest on loans to risky customers.

Tatoeba

这个家庭非常贫穷以至于无法偿还款。

Zhège jiātíng fēicháng pínqióng yǐzhìyú wúfǎ chánghuán dàikuǎn.

The family is too poor to pay back the debts.

Tatoeba

他从银行得到了款。

Tā cóng yínháng dédào le dàikuǎn.

He got a loan from the bank.

Tatoeba

现在的款利率很高。

Xiànzài de dàikuǎn lìlǜ hěn gāo.

Interest on loans is high at present.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced dài

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 贷 (dài) mean in Chinese?
贷 (dài) primarily means "loan." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1594 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 贷 have?
贷 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 贷?
The radical associated with 贷 is 贝 (shell). This radical appears in many characters related to shell.
What are the components of 贷?
贷 is composed of: 代 (phonetic), 贝 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱代贝 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 贷?
Common words with 贷 include: 贷款 (dài kuǎn, "a loan"); 高利贷 (gāo lì dài, "high-interest loan"); 信贷 (xìn dài, "credit"); 借贷 (jiè dài, "to borrow or lend money"); 还贷 (huán dài, "to repay a loan"). There are over 40 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 贷 (dài)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dài: 袋 (bag, pocket), 呆 (foolish), 歹 (bad), 逮 ((coll.) to catch), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 贷 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 贷 and the traditional form is 貸.

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.