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Kanji Detail for 大 - "big, greatly"

大

  • Meaning

    大 means "big, greatly." Also associated with excellent.

    1. Big - Large in size; great in degree; many in number or quantity.

    2. Excellent - Outstanding; magnificent; impressive.

    3. Greatly - Very much; extremely; considerably.

    4. Proud - Arrogant; having a haughty attitude.

    5. Approximately - Roughly; generally; more or less.

    6. Honorific - A word of respect added before someone's name.

    7. Prefix - A prefix indicating respect or greatness.

  • Words using 大

    • 大会 たいかい Listen mass meeting; convention; rally
    • 大手 おおて Listen major company; big company; front castle gate
    • 拡大 かくだい Listen expansion; extension; magnification
    • 最大 さいだい Listen biggest; greatest; largest
    • 大統領 だいとうりょう Listen president (of a country); big man; boss
    • 大蔵省 おおくらしょう Listen Ministry of Finance (1869-2001); Ministry of the Treasury (under the ritsuryō system)
    • 大使 たいし Listen ambassador
    • 大切 たいせつ Listen important; significant; serious

  • Four-character idioms with 大

    • 公明正大 こうめいせいだい Listen fair; just and upright; open and honest
    • 大同団結 だいどうだんけつ Listen merger; (presenting a) united front
    • 大義名分 たいぎめいぶん Listen just cause; good reason; pretext
    • 後生大事 ごしょうだいじ Listen with religious zeal; with utmost devotion; take great care of
    • 一大決心 いちだいけっしん Listen momentous (crucial) decision
    • 伴食大臣 ばんしょくだいじん Listen nominal (figurehead) minister; titular minister

  • Origin of 大

    A person standing square with arms and legs spread wide — taking up as much of the world as a body can. "Big" is a human gesture.

    How to remember it: Arms out, legs planted: the shape you make when you mean THIS BIG.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 大

    • Verified meaning: big, greatly
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read おお, おおがち, おおかつ, おおがみ)
    • Also carries these associations: excellent

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 大

    Given names 大(おおき)Listen

    Surnames 大(おお)Listen 大(おおがち)Listen 大(おおかつ)Listen 大(おおがみ)Listen 大(おおくわ)Listen 大(おおさき)Listen 大(おおざき)Listen 大(おおし)Listen 大(おおしお)Listen 大(おおじお)Listen 大(おおすぎ)Listen

  • Compare with other kanji that mean the same thing:

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    large; big

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    big, great, vast, large, high

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    big; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]); greatly; freely; fully; (dialect) father; (dialect) uncle (father's brother)

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    big, great, vast, high, deep

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    Opposite of 小 (small). Also 大凡 (generally), 大概 (roughly). | An honorific term for others. Such as calling someone's writings 大作, 大著. | Among brothers, the first is called 大. This expression existed in Tang times. | Anciently interchangeable with 太. Such as 大和, 大極, 大牢. All read like 太.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    dai(ダイ) ダイ

    tai(タイ) タイ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    oo(おお) おお

    oo.ini(おお-いに) おお-いに

    oo.kii(おお-きい) おお-きい

  • Strokes

    tip

    3 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    大 (dai)

  • Related Keywords

    big excellent greatly approximately grand honorific prefix proud respectful large ample colossal enormous gigantic huge immense important magnificent major mammoth massive significant sizable spacious substantial towering

Sentences including 大

  • The child is father of the man.

  • My mother loves music.

  • Take care of yourself.

  • He is crazy about baseball.

  • He is sure to succeed.

  • I've never had such a large sum of money.

  • There's no need to speak so loud.

  • Health is more important than money.

  • I keep old books with care.

  • The heavy rain prevented us from going out.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 大 (dai)

See all kanji with this radical →

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