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大脚 (dà jiǎo) — (historical) unbound feet; a woman with natural-sized feet (as opposed to bound feet)

Definition

A historical term for women whose feet were NOT bound — 'natural feet', as opposed to the tiny 裹脚 of the foot-binding era. It was often used as a plain, sometimes mocking, everyday label.

noun
(historical) unbound feeta woman with natural-sized feet (as opposed to bound feet)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，大脚，。
    Zài jiù shè huì, hěn duō nóng cūn fù nǚ dōu shì dà jiǎo, yīn wèi tā men xū yào xià dì gàn huó.
    In old society, many rural women had unbound feet because they needed to work in the fields.
  • ，大脚。
    Nǎi nai shuō, tā xiǎo shí hou dà jiǎo de nǚ rén cháng bèi rén cháo xiào.
    Grandma said that when she was young, women with natural feet were often laughed at.
  • 大脚，。
    Guān yú dà jiǎo de lì shǐ, wǒ shì zài bó wù guǎn lǐ liǎo jiě dào de.
    I learned about the history of unbound feet at the museum.

Origin

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.

大dàbig
脚jiǎofoot

大 'big' and 脚 'foot' combine to refer to large, unbound feet.

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 腳; 脚 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat, body
Sound part声符shēngfú
卻
卻què腳jiǎo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 腳 uses ⺼ for a body part and 卻 for the sound; the simplified 脚 is a later shorthand.

Open 脚 →
Appears in
Body PartsChinese Culture & Customs

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