对 (duì): right, correct, towards, at, for, concerning, regarding

对 (duì) is a Chinese character meaning “right.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 又 (structural) and 寸 (structural). It ranks #33 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 对 a pair 又 of hands 寸. Its radical form 寸 (inch) appears in many related characters such as 封 (fēng, to confer), 导 (dǎo, to transmit), 将 (jiāng, will).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. right
  2. correct
  3. towards
  4. at
  5. for
  6. concerning
  7. regarding

Etymology & Origin

对

ideographicA pair 又 of hands 寸

Decomposition: ⿰又寸 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 对

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
对不起verbduì bu qǐI'm sorry1
绝对adjective/adverbjué duìabsolute5
对于prepositionduì yúregarding4
面对verbmiàn duìto face4
反对verbfǎn duìto oppose4
对方nounduì fāngthe other person4
对待verbduì dàito treat5
对手nounduì shǒuopponent5
对象nounduì xiàngtarget5
针对verbzhēn duìto target5
对话verbduì huàto talk (with sb)3
对抗verbduì kàngto withstand6
对面nounduì miànopposite4
相对verb/adjectivexiāng duìrelatively5
对比verb/nounduì bǐto contrast5
应对verbyìng duìto answer5
对应verb/adjectiveduì yìngto correspond (to)6
对称adjectiveduì chènsymmetry6
对立verbduì lìto oppose6
对接verbduì jiēto join up6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
派对nounpài duì(loanword) party
对付verbduì futo handle
不对adjectivebù duìincorrect
对劲adjectiveduì jìnsuitable
对了interjectionduì leCorrect!
面对面miàn duì miànface to face
一对nounyī duìcouple
对准verbduì zhǔnto aim at
对头adjectiveduì tóucorrect
对讲机nounduì jiǎng jīintercom
配对verbpèi duìto pair up
核对verbhé duìto check
对外adjectiveduì wàiexternal
作对verbzuò duìto set oneself against
110
Total compounds
76
As first character
20
As last character
4
As middle character

对 appears in 110 compound words: 76 as the first character, 20 as the last, and 4 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 对 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

反fǎn
0.541101,840 co-occurrences
针zhēn
0.53942,493 co-occurrences
应yīng
0.52259,982 co-occurrences
阵zhèn
0.50819,800 co-occurrences
手shǒu
0.48294,604 co-occurrences
象xiàng
0.45936,118 co-occurrences
于yú
0.453124,248 co-occurrences
比bǐ
0.45073,512 co-occurrences
话huà
0.44316,306 co-occurrences
峙zhì
0.4374,244 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (18)

唱对台戏chàng duìtáixìHSK 4+

to stage a rival show

verb
对答如流duìdárúliúHSK 4+

to answer fluently; to answer without hesitation

phrase
对酒当歌duì jiǔ dāng gēHSK 3+

lit. sing to accompany wine (idiom); fig. life is short, make merry while you can

phrase
对马海峡Duìmǎ HǎixiáHSK 7+

Tsushima Strait; Eastern Channel (a channel of the Korea Strait, to the east and southeast of Tsushima Island)

对外贸易duìwài màoyìHSK 6+

foreign trade; external trade

noun
对我来说duì wǒ lái shuōHSK 1+

in my opinion; as far as I'm concerned; to my mind; the way I see it

phrase
绝对湿度jué duì shī dùHSK 5+

absolute humidity

phrase
牛衣对泣niú yī duì qìHSK 7+

couple living in destitute misery (idiom)

phrase
棋逢对手qíféngduìshǒuHSK 7+

to encounter a rival; to be equally strong

verb
文不对题wénbùduìtíHSK 1+

to be beside the point; to be off-topic; to be irrelevant to the subject

phrase
相对湿度xiāngduì shīdùHSK 5+

relative humidity

noun
冤家对头yuān jiā duì tóuHSK 7+

enemy (idiom); opponent; arch-enemy

phrase

Showing 12 of 18 idioms containing 对.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

对字虽然难写,但意思很有趣。

duì zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

The character is difficult to write, but its meaning is quite interesting.

Irna ChineseFeb 2026

88%的阿拉伯民众反对承认以色列政权

8 8 de ā lā bó mín zhòng fǎn duì chéng rèn yǐ sè liè zhèng quán

88% of the Arab population opposes the recognition of the Israeli regime

Irna ChineseFeb 2026

沙特阿拉伯前官员:任何对伊朗的军事打击都将是一场代价高昂的豪赌

shā tè ā lā bó qián guān yuán : rèn hé duì yī lǎng de jūn shì dǎ jī dōu jiāng shì yī chǎng dài jià gāo áng de háo dǔ

Former Saudi Arabian official: Any military strike on Iran will be a costly gamble

NewtalkFeb 2026

...帐户攻击高市早苗 矢板明夫:台日两国正面对相同挑战

. . . zhàng hù gōng jī gāo shì zǎo miáo shǐ bǎn míng fū : tái rì liǎng guó zhèng miàn duì xiāng tóng tiāo zhàn

... Account attack on Sanae Takaichi Akio Yaita: Taiwan and Japan are facing the same challenges

百度新闻Feb 2026

联合国:收到伊朗来信 对地区紧张局势深表关切

lián gě guó : shōu dào yī lǎng lái xìn duì dì qū jǐn zhāng jú shì shēn biǎo guān qiē

United Nations: Received a letter from Iran expressing deep concern about regional tensions

百度新闻Feb 2026

米兰冬奥|有爱人也有惺惺相惜的对手,王心迪与瑞士选..

mǐ lán dōng ào yǒu ài rén yě yǒu 惺 惺 xiāng xī de duì shǒu , wáng xīn dí yǔ ruì shì xuǎn . .

Milan Winter Olympics|There are lovers and sympathetic opponents, Wang Xindi and Switzerland choos:

Tatoeba

你会代替我去派对吗?

Nǐ huì dàitì wǒ qù pàiduì ma?

Will you go to the party instead of me?

Tatoeba

你觉得对此该做什么?

Nǐ juéde duì cǐ gāi zuò shénme?

What do you think should be done about it?

Tatoeba

你来不来我的派对啊?

Nǐ lái bù lái wǒ de pàiduì ā?

Would you like to come to my party?

Tatoeba

我这样想是对的吗?

Wǒ zhèyàng xiǎng shì duì de ma?

Am I correct in thinking thus?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced duì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 对 (duì) mean in Chinese?
对 (duì) primarily means "right." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #33 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 对 and 错?
对 (duì) and 错 (cuò) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 对 (correct) vs 错 (wrong).
How many strokes does 对 have?
对 is written with 5 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 对?
The radical associated with 对 is 寸 (inch). This radical appears in many characters related to inch.
What are the components of 对?
对 is composed of: 又 (structural), 寸 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰又寸 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 对?
Common words with 对 include: 对不起 (duì bu qǐ, "I'm sorry"); 绝对 (jué duì, "absolute"); 对于 (duì yú, "regarding"); 派对 (pài duì, "(loanword) party"); 面对 (miàn duì, "to face"). There are over 110 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 对 (duì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation duì: 队 (squadron), 堆 (to pile, to heap), 兑 (to cash). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 对 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 对 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 对 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.