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大多 (dà duō) — mostly; for the most part; the majority

Definition

大多 means 'mostly / the majority' and works like an adverb before a verb or whole clause. It overlaps with 大都 (near-synonym, slightly more written) and 多数 (a noun, not an adverb).

adverb
mostlyfor the most partthe majority

Examples

  • 大多。
    Gōng sī lǐ de yuán gōng dà duō shì nián qīng rén.
    Most of the employees in the company are young people.
  • 大多。
    Zhè zhǒng shuǐ guǒ dà duō chǎn zì nán fāng.
    This kind of fruit mostly comes from the south.
  • 。
    Cān jiā huó dòng de rén dà duō shì xué shēng.
    Most of the people attending the event are students.

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dàgreatly
多duōmany

大 (greatly) and 多 (many) combine to mean mostly or the majority.

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 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

多 originally showed two pieces of meat placed together; the repeated meat shape gives the sense of many.

Open 多 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5Quantity & Amount

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