Dong Chinese dictionary

tài

very

Addition of a dot to 大 (dà; big) to mean "very" or "extremely".

Components

dà, dài

big

太 and 大 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.太 /*l̥ˤa[t]-s/
大 /*lˤat-s (MC F!)/, /*lˤa[t]-s/

Evolution

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

太

tài

very, too, much; big; extreme; highest; greatest; too (much); very; extremely

Most common words with 太

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	太	highest
	太阳	sun
	太太	Mrs.
	太空	outer space
	犹太人	Jew

Component uses

Sound component in 7 characters (1 verified)

Sources

MTSU Chinese text computing

季旭昇《說文新證》p.800

漢語多功能字庫

Freq.

Word

Meaning