大帝 (dà dì) — great emperor (title for a great emperor)

Definition

noun

great emperor (title for a great emperor)

Measure word · 位

大帝。
Zhè wèi dà dì jiàn lì le wěi dà de wáng cháo.
This great emperor established a great dynasty.
大帝。
Xǔ duō rén dōu xiǎng chéng wéi xiàng tā nà yàng de dà dì.
Many people want to become a great emperor like him.
大帝。
Zhè bù xiǎo shuō jiǎng shù le yí wèi dà dì de gù shi.
This novel tells the story of a great emperor.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

帝dìemperor

大 (great) and 帝 (emperor) describe a powerful emperor.

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.

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú

丄丄shàngup; above

Sound part声符shēngfú

朿

朿cì帝dì

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

帝 originally drew a flower calyx, the part joining blossom to stem. The 丄 and 朿 breakdown is mistaken.

Appears in