Da - big - Chinese character profile

Da - big - Chinese character profile On a list of the 3000 most common Chinese characters, Ã¥ ¤ § is ranked 13. Its not only a common character in its own right, used to mean big, but it also appears in many common words (remember, words in Chinese often consist of two characters, but not always). In this article, were going to look closer at the character, including how its pronounced and how its used. Basic meaning and pronunciation of Ã¥ ¤ § The basic meaning of this character is big and it is pronounced d (fourth tone). It is a pictograph of a man with outstretched arms. The word is mostly used for physical size, as can be seen in the following sentences: ä »â€"çš„æˆ ¿Ã¥ ­ Ã¤ ¸ Ã¥ ¤ §tÄ  de fngzi bà º dHis house is not big. Ã¥Å" °Ã§ Æ'Ã¥ ¾Ë†Ã¥ ¤ §dà ¬qià º hÄ›n dThe earth is big. Note that simply translating Ã¥ ¤ § into big isnt going to work in all cases. This is why speaking Mandarin accurately can be a challenge. Here are some examples where you can use Ã¥ ¤ § in Chinese, but where we wouldnt use big in English. ä ½  Ã¥ ¤Å¡Ã¥ ¤ §nÇ  duÃ…  d?How old are you? (literally: how big are you?) ä »Å Ã¥ ¤ ©Ã¥ ¤ ªÃ©â„¢ ½Ã¥ ¾Ë†Ã¥ ¤ §jÄ «ntiÄ n tiyang hÄ›n dIts sunny today (literally: the sun is big today) In other words, you need to learn in which cases you can and should use Ã¥ ¤ § to indicate a high degree. Other weather phenomenons are also okay, so the wind is big and rain can be big too in Chinese. Common words with Ã¥ ¤ § (d) big Here are a few common words that contain Ã¥ ¤ §: Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¥ ® ¶ (djiÄ  ) everybody (lit: big home)Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¤ º º (drà ©n) adult; grown up (lit: big person)Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¥ ­ ¦ (dxuà ©) university (lit: big study, compare Ã¥ ° Ã¥ ­ ¦)Ã¥ ¤ §Ã©â„¢â€  (dlà ¹) continent; Mainland (China) (lit: big land) These are good examples of why words are actually not that difficult to learn in Chinese. If you know what the component characters mean, you might not be able to guess the meaning if youve never seen the word before, but its certainly easier to remember! Alternative pronunciation: Ã¥ ¤ § (di) Many Chinese characters have multiple pronunciations and Ã¥ ¤ § is one of them. The pronunciation and meaning given above is by far the most common one, but there is a second reading di, mostly seen in the word Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¥ ¤ « (difu) doctor.   Instead of learning this particular pronunciation for Ã¥ ¤ §, I suggest that you learn this word for doctor; you can safely assume that all other cases of Ã¥ ¤ § are pronounced d!