硕大无比 (shuò dà wú bǐ) — (idiom) enormous; gigantic; colossal

Definition

A vivid chengyu meaning 'enormously huge' — 无比 ('without compare') adds a stronger, more emphatic feel than 大 alone, so use it for striking size.

idiom
enormousgiganticcolossal

Examples

  • 硕大无比，。
    Zhè ge guǎng chǎng shuò dà wú bǐ, néng róng nà shàng wàn rén.
    This square is colossal, able to hold tens of thousands of people.
  • 硕大无比。
    Hǎi miàn shàng chū xiàn le yí gè shuò dà wú bǐ de xuán wō.
    A gigantic whirlpool appeared on the sea surface.
  • 硕大无比，。
    Tā miàn duì shuò dà wú bǐ de yā lì, yī rán jiān chí le xià lái.
    Faced with enormous pressure, he still persevered.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

硕大very large
硕shuòlarge大dàbig
联合Side by side
无比without comparison
无wúwithout比bǐcompare
动宾Verb + object

硕 and 大 give the idea of great size, and 无 and 比 add that nothing can compare with it.

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 碩; 硕 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yè
Sound part声符shēngfú
石
石shí碩shuò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 碩 puts 石 beside 頁: 石 gives the sound, and 頁 is the meaning part; the simplified 硕 is a shorthand.

Open 硕 →

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 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

  • 匕匕bǐ
  • 匕匕bǐ

比 is two 匕 placed side by side. Chu Wan-li treats both as sound parts, while an old reading takes the side-by-side arrangement as putting things next to each other.

Open 比 →

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