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大个儿 (dà gè er) — tall person; tall guy

Definition

大个儿 (dà gèr) is a casual, spoken noun for 'a tall person' — informal in tone, often used to single someone out by height. It carries no 儿-less written counterpart at this level.

noun
tall persontall guy
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 大个儿。
    Wǒ men bān nà ge dà gè er lán qiú dǎ dé tè bié hǎo.
    That tall guy in our class plays basketball really well.
  • 大个儿。
    dà gè er Zhàn zài rén qún lǐ yì yǎn jiù néng kàn jiàn.
    A tall person can be spotted at a glance in a crowd.
  • ，大个儿。
    Tā cháng dé zhēn gāo, shì gè biāo zhǔn de dà gè er.
    He's really tall — a textbook tall guy.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

大个big one
大dàbig个gèperson
偏正Modifier + head
儿érr-coloring

大 describes size, 个 stands for a person, and 儿 gives the colloquial r-colored form.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 個; 个 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
固
固gù個ge
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For 个, the form 個 pairs 亻 (person) with 固 as a sound part.

Open 个 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 儿 is a simple drawing of a standing person, used as an alternate form of the character for person.

Open 儿 →
Appears in
People (General)Size & Dimension

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