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大意 (dà yì) — (adjective) careless, negligent; to take something lightly; (noun) main idea, gist, general sense

Definition

As an adjective, 大意 (dà yì) means 'careless' — stronger than 马虎 (sloppy in small things) and more about neglecting important risks than 草率 (rushing a decision). As a noun, it means the 'main idea/gist' of a text, close to 要领.

adjective
carelessnegligentto take something lightly
noun
main ideagistgeneral sense

Examples

  • 大意，。
    Nǐ zuò zuò yè shí bú yào dà yì, yào zǐ xì jiǎn chá.
    You should not be careless when doing homework; check carefully.
  • 大意。
    Zhè piān wén zhāng de dà yì shì bǎo hù huán jìng.
    The main idea of this article is to protect the environment.
  • 大意，。
    Xiān gào sù wǒ dà yì, zài shuō xì jié.
    First tell me the gist, then the details.

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dàmain
意yìidea

大 means main or great, and 意 means idea or attention, giving the main idea or carelessness.

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 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 意 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Personality & Traits

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