待 (dāi) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

待

dāi[dai1]Tone 1

to stay; to remain

HSK 3

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · to stay; to remain

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (the step radical 彳) is slightly narrower and vertically compressed compared to the right component (寺), ensuring the whole character occupies a balanced square grid.

1. Meaning

to stay or remain in a place for a period of time

to wait (commonly used in spoken Chinese as 呆一会儿 'wait a moment')to treat or deal with (though more commonly found in compounds like 对待)

VerbColloquial#location#action#time

Sample Usage

你在北京呆几天？
nǐ zài běijīng dāi jǐ tiān?
How many days are you staying in Beijing?
呆在家里
dāi zài jiā lǐ
to stay at home

2. Sound

/[taɪ̯⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

待

dāidai1

¯(55)

=dāi

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Alveolar

Sounds like: d sound like in English 'dog'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No puff of air. Tissue remains still (sounds like English 't' in 'stop').

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge just behind the upper front teeth, releasing a light stop without an explosion of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -ai rhymes with eye

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'eye'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Pronounced on a high, unchanging pitch, similar to saying 'mhm' or a monotone high musical note.

👂

Listening trap: Beginners often confuse theTone 1 high level pitch (55) with Tone 4 falling pitch (51), or accidentally read it with the alternative reading dài (to wait).

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 is a high, steady musical note. Imagine holding a high singing pitch flat across a table with your hand.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes

4. Components

Radical 彳 · stepping radical / double person (movement, steps, walking)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 彳 (indicates movement or halting along a path)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 寺 (original sound: sì / dāi phonetic clue)

A traveler stops while taking steps (彳) at a temple or official building (寺), meaning they decided to stay put.

彳 stepping radical denoting movement or road
寺 temple or court, providing phonetic structure

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from 彳 (stepping, walking) and 寺 (court/institution), originally representing halting or stopping during a journey.

Semantic Evolution: Over time, the official/halting connotation shifted into the colloquial everyday verb meaning 'to stay' or 'to remain' in a specific location.

In classical texts, this character was frequently interchangeable with 待 (to wait), but modern Mandarin has split them into distinct senses and pronunciations (dāi for staying, dài for waiting/treating).

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

đãi

Corresponds to the Vietnamese hoi/ngã tone range depending on the historical reading layer.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: タイ / Kun: まつ

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

대

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You take steps (彳) to visit a Buddhist temple (寺), but you like the peaceful courtyard so much that you decide to *stay* (dāi) right there.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

待

dàito wait, to treatUses the exact same components but pronounced with Tone 4 (dài) meaning 'to wait or treat'.

诗

shīpoemReplaces the left stepping radical with the speech radical (讠), forming 'poetry'.

持

chíto hold, to graspReplaces the left radical with the hand radical (扌), meaning to hold with hands.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

待(dài)

Dāi (Tone 1) is colloquial for 'staying' in a place; dài (Tone 4) is formal for 'waiting' or 'treating'.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

周末我只想在家[___]着，哪儿也不去。

Clue: dāi

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the pronunciation tone: learners often say dài (Tone 4) when they mean the colloquial action of staying dāi (Tone 1), or writing 呆 (which is a simplified variant graphic also commonly used for staying). Note: 待 in modern Chinese is standard for 'dāi' in Mainland colloquial usage, though 呆 is also universally accepted and frequently interchanged for the 'stay' meaning.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 待 used colloquially to mean 'to stay somewhere', what is its correct Pinyin and tone?

Production: How do you write the character meaning 'to stay' with Pinyin dāi?

待dāito stay; to remain

Speed:

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