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Definition 2024

太

太

See also: 大 and 犬

Translingual

Stroke order
Stroke order

Han character

太 (radical 37 大+1, 4 strokes, cangjie input 大戈 (KI), four-corner 40030, composition ⿵大丶)

Derived characters

Descendants

References

  • KangXi: page 248, character 10
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5834
  • Dae Jaweon: page 505, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 524, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+592A

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 太

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (大) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
馱 *daːl, *daːds
大 *daːds, *daːds
忕 *tʰaːds, *daːds, *djads
太 *tʰaːds
汰 *tʰaːds
汏 *daːds, *tʰaːd
軑 *daːds, *deːds
釱 *daːds, *deːds
达 *tʰeːds
杕 *deːds

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *tʰaːds) : phonetic 大 ‎(OC *daːds, *daːds, “big; great”) + semantic 丶 – excessive.

Etymology

A superlative derivative of 大 (OC *daːds, *daːds, “big”) – be too great, very great, excessive.

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 太
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 透 (6)
Final (韻) 泰 (25)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 他蓋切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /tʰɑiH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /tʰɑiH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /tʰɑiH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /tʰajH/
Li
Rong		 /tʰɑiH/
Wang
Li		 /tʰɑiH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /tʰɑiH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 tài
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 太
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 tài
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ thajH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*l̥ˤa[t]-s/
English great

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 太
Reading # 1/1
No. 1937
Phonetic
component		 大
Rime
group		 祭
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 泰
Old
Chinese		 /*tʰaːds/

Definitions

太

  1. too; so (modifying adjectives; often used with 了 (le) at the end of the sentence for emphasis)
    太熱了！ / 太热了！  ―  Tài rè le!  ―  It's so hot!
    別吃太多派。 / 别吃太多派。  ―  Bié chī tài duō pài.  ―  Don't eat too much pie.
  2. (usually in negative sentences) very; quite
    他不太舒服。  ―  Tā bù tài shūfú.  ―  He's not very well.
  3. most; utmost
  4. highest; greatest
  5. senior; noble
  6. wife; Miss; Mrs
    太太  ―  tàitai  ―  wife
    • 李太 [Cantonese]  ―  lei5taai3-2 [Jyutping]  ―  Mrs. Li
    • 陳太 / 陈太 [Cantonese]  ―  can4taai3-2 [Jyutping]  ―  Mrs. Chen
  7. Short for 太湖 (Tàihú, “Lake Tai, a lake in Southern Jiangsu, China”).
  8. Short for 太平洋 (Tàipíngyáng, “Pacific Ocean”).

See also

  • (too):
Dialectal synonyms of 太 (“too; excessively”)
Variety Location Words
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 太
Mandarin Beijing 太、忒
Taiwan 太
Tianjin 太、忒
Jinan 太、忒
Xi'an 太
Wuhan 太、忒
Chengdu 太
Yangzhou 太
Hefei 太
Cantonese Guangzhou 太、得滯
Hong Kong 太、得滯
Taishan 得滯
Yangjiang 得滯
Gan Nanchang 太
Hakka Meixian 忒
Miaoli (N. Sixian) 忒
Liudui (S. Sixian) 忒
Hsinchu (Hailu) 忒
Dongshi (Dabu) 忒
Zhuolan (Raoping) 忒
Yunlin (Zhao'an) 忒
Jin Taiyuan 太
Min Bei Jian'ou 太
Min Dong Fuzhou 過、恰
Min Nan Quanzhou 傷
Xiamen 傷
Zhangzhou 傷
Taipei 傷
Kaohsiung 傷
Tainan 傷
Taichung 傷
Yilan 傷
Lukang 傷
Sanxia 傷
Kinmen 傷
Magong 傷
Hsinchu 傷
Malaysia 傷、太
Chaozhou 佮
Shantou 佮
Wu Suzhou 忒
Wenzhou 忒
Xiang Changsha 太
Shuangfeng 太、忒

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

太

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. (adjective): fat

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Old Japanese.

Pronunciation

Noun

太 ‎(hiragana ふと, romaji futo)

  1. fatness
  2. a fat person, a fatty
  3. fat-necked shamisen
  4. thick thread
Derived terms
Synonyms
  • (fat person): でぶ ‎(debu)
  • (shamisen): 太棹 (ふとざお) ‎(futozao)
  • (thread): 太糸 (ふといと) ‎(futoito)

Prefix

太 ‎(hiragana ふと, romaji futo-)

  1. added to words describing gods or the emperor or other exalted subjects to denote greatness or excellence
    • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 17, poem 4031); text here
      奈加等美乃 敷刀能里⟨等其⟩等 伊比波良倍 安⟨賀⟩布伊能知毛 多我多米尓奈礼
      中臣の 太祝詞言 言ひ祓へ 贖ふ命も 誰がために汝れ
      なかとみの ふとのりとごと いひはらへ あかふいのちも たがためになれ
      Nakatomi no / futonoritogoto / iiharae / akau inochi mo / ta ga tame ni nare
      Reciting the Nakatomi's excellent ritual offering, whose [long] life was prayed for? Yours.}}
  2. added to regular nouns to denote fatness or thickness
    太 (ふと)腿 (もも)、太 (ふと)箸 (ばし)
    futo-momo, futo-bashi
    the thigh (the thick part of the leg), fat chopsticks (used at New Years)
Derived terms

Etymology 2

The Old Japanese 終止形 ‎(shūshikei, “terminal (sentence-final) form”) of adjective 太い ‎(futoi, “fat, thick, big”).[2]

Pronunciation

Proper noun

太 ‎(hiragana ふとし, romaji Futoshi)

  1. A male given name.

Etymology 3

Derived from the root word 大 ‎(ō, “great, big”).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

太 ‎(hiragana おお, romaji Ō, historical hiragana おほ)

  1. A surname​.

Etymology 4

From Middle Chinese 太 ‎(thajH). Compare modern Mandarin 太 ‎(tài).

Pronunciation

Prefix

太 ‎(hiragana たい, romaji tai-)

  1. big, fat, great
Usage notes
  • Only found in compounds.
Derived terms

Etymology 5

From a colloquial form of 太 in Middle Chinese. Compare the similar corruption in Mandarin 大 (dà).

Pronunciation

Prefix

太 ‎(hiragana た, romaji ta-)

  1. big, fat, great
Usage notes

Only found in compounds.

Derived terms

References

  1. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3
  2. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan

Korean

Hanja

太 • ‎(tae)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): 태 (revised: tae, McCune-Reischauer: t'ae)
  • Name (hangeul): 클 (revised: keul, McCune-Reischauer: k'ul)
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Vietnamese

Han character

太 (thái)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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