大 (dà) is a Chinese character meaning “big”. It takes 3 strokes. It has a second reading, dài, which turns up in 大夫 — here the two readings are two separate things to learn, not one card with two answers.
Learn this character
Structure
大
Single unit
- 大 big · dà unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+5927 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection
Memory aid
Picture the single character 大 stretching wide: big.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
3 strokes
In real words
- 大小dà xiǎosize大 = dà
- 大门dà ménmain gate; entrance door大 = dà
- 广大guǎng dàvast; extensive大 = dà
Go deeper
All readings
big
big; large; great
体积、数量或程度较大；也可表示重要或伟大。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 大小dà xiǎosize大 = dà
- 大门dà ménmain gate; entrance door大 = dà
- 广大guǎng dàvast; extensive大 = dà
doctor
pronounced dài in the word 大夫, meaning doctor
在“大夫”（医生）一词中读 dài。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 大夫dài fudoctor大 = dài
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 大 mean?
大 (dà) means big; large; great.
How do you pronounce 大?
Its main reading is dà. It also has a second reading, dài, which only shows up in certain words such as 大夫 — so the word tells you the reading, not the character on its own.
Why is 大 sometimes pronounced dài?
Because it is a multi-reading character: each reading carries a different sense, and the word decides which one applies. In 大夫 it is read dài.
How many strokes does 大 have?
3. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 大?
大. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 大?
Common ones are 大小. The reading of 大 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.