大都 (dà dū) — mostly, generally, for the most part | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Mostly, for the most part — a written/formal adverb about the majority of a set. Closer to 基本上 than to 多半, which means 'most likely'.

adverb

mostlygenerallyfor the most part

Examples

大都。
Gōng sī de yuán gōng dà dū shì běn kē yǐ shàng xué lì.
Most of the company's employees have a bachelor's degree or above.
大都。
Zhè xiē wèn tí dà dū yǐ jīng jiě jué le.
Most of these problems have already been solved.
大都。
Zhè xiē shū dà dū shì xiǎo shuō hé sǎn wén.
Most of these books are novels and essays.

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dàlargely

大 (largely) and 都 (all) combine to mean mostly or on the whole.

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

邑邑yìtown, city

Sound part声符shēngfú

者

者zhě都dōu

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

都 is built from 者, which supplies the sound, and 邑, meaning town or city.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 Quantity & Amount

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