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对待 (duì dài) — to treat, to deal with (a person or matter)

Definition

对待 (duìdài) means 'to treat' a person or matter, focusing on one's attitude or behavior. Compare 看待, which means 'to regard' as in how you view something conceptually.

verb
to treatto deal with (a person or matter)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 对待。
    Wǒ men yīng gāi gōng píng dì duì dài měi gè rén.
    We should treat everyone fairly.
  • 对待。
    Tā duì dài gōng zuò fēi cháng rèn zhēn.
    He treats his work very seriously.
  • 对待？
    Nǐ zěn me duì dài nǐ de chǒng wù?
    How do you treat your pet?

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

对duìtreat
待dàitreat

Both '对' and '待' mean treat or deal with; together they denote how one handles people or matters.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 對; 对 is its simplified writing.

For the traditional form 對, the shape comes from an early drawing of 丵 (a digging tool), 土 (earth), and 又 (a hand); it may have meant developing land.

Open 对 →

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
彳彳chì
Sound part声符shēngfú
寺
寺sì待dài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

待 is built from 彳 on the left and 寺 on the right; 彳 is tied to the meaning, and 寺 gives the sound.

Open 待 →
Appears in
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