daai6

daai6 is the Cantonese reading (Jyutping) of the Chinese character 大, which ordinarily means big, large, or great. In Cantonese as in other Chinese varieties, it functions as an adjective describing size or importance and appears in many common words and phrases. It also serves as a productive component in compounds to convey notions of magnitude, extent, or emphasis.

Pronunciation and basic facts: daai6 is marked with tone 6 in Jyutping, a low level tone. The character 大 is a basic, frequently used character that appears across a wide range of contexts, from everyday speech to literature. In written Cantonese, it is often found in front of other characters to form compound words or before a noun to indicate largeness or significance.

Common compounds and phrases: Examples include 大家 (daai6 gaa1) meaning everybody or all of us; 大學 (daai6 hok9) meaning university; 大人 (daai6 jan4) meaning adult; 大事 (daai6 si6) meaning major matter or important affair; 大量 (daai6 loeng6) meaning a large amount; 大雨 (daai6 jyu5) meaning heavy rain; 大樓 (daai6 lau4) meaning a building. These illustrate how 大 commonly prefixes or pairs with other morphemes to form everyday terms.

Relation to other varieties: 大 corresponds to Mandarin dà, sharing a common semantic core related to size and importance. In Cantonese, use and pronunciation are distinct from Mandarin, reflecting the language’s tonal and lexical system.