宽大 (kuān dà) — (of space) spacious, roomy; (of attitude) lenie…

Definition

Two main senses: physical space (spacious, roomy) and attitude toward people (lenient, magnanimous — e.g. a judge's treatment).

adjective

(of space) spaciousroomy(of attitude) lenientmagnanimous

宽大。
Zhè ge kuān dà de fáng jiān yǒu wǔ shí píng fāng mǐ.
This spacious room is fifty square meters.
宽大。
Fǎ guān duì chū fàn zhě cǎi qǔ le kuān dà de chǔ lǐ.
The judge gave lenient treatment to the first-time offender.
宽大，。
Zhè jiàn yī fu shè jì dé hěn kuān dà, chuān qǐ lái hěn shū fu.
This piece of clothing is designed to be roomy, so it feels very comfortable to wear.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

宽kuānwide/lenient

大dàbig/generous

宽 (wide/lenient) and 大 (big/generous) are parallel qualities describing roominess or generosity.

Characters in this word

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 寬; 宽 is its simplified writing.

宀萈寬

Meaning part形符xíngfú

宀宀miánhouse

Sound part声符shēngfú

萈

萈huán寬kuān

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

The traditional form 寬 pairs 宀, a house, with 萈, a goat used for sound, to show a spacious house; the simplified 宽 is a later abbreviation.

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.

Appears in