歹 meaning and stroke order
Corpse; death; evil, depraved, wicked
How to write 歹, stroke by stroke
4 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Meaning of 歹
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- bad
- wicked
- evil
- Kangxi radical 78
How 歹 is built
Pictographic character. A corpse.
How to remember 歹
歹 (dǎi) is a picture of a corpse. You can see it as a line 一 on top of 夕 (evening): when the day ends in darkness, something bad has happened, so 歹 means death and evil.
On its own 歹 means bad or wicked, but today it mostly appears in set words like 歹徒 (dǎitú, criminal) and 好歹 (hǎodǎi, good and bad; anyway). Example: 他真是不知好歹。(Tā zhēn shì bù zhī hǎodǎi.) He really doesn't know what's good for him.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 歹 with 夕 (xī, evening) because 歹 contains 夕. Remember 歹 has the extra horizontal stroke 一 on top. Also keep the third tone: dǎi, not dài like 带.
Common words with 歹
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
歹 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 歹
Learning 歹 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 歹
How many strokes are in 歹?
歹 is written with 4 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 歹 mean?
歹 (dǎi) means corpse; death; evil, depraved, wicked. A common word with it is 歹徒 (dǎitú), meaning "evildoer; malefactor".
How do you pronounce 歹?
歹 is pronounced dǎi, in the third tone (dipping).
Is 歹 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 歹 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why do so many characters about death contain 歹?
Because 歹 originally pictured a corpse, it works as a radical for death and harm. You will see it in characters like 死 (sǐ, to die) and 残 (cán, damaged, cruel).
What does 好歹 mean in everyday speech?
Besides good and bad, 好歹 is often used as an adverb meaning at least or anyway, as in 你好歹吃一点 (nǐ hǎodǎi chī yìdiǎn), at least eat a little. It can also mean a mishap, as in 万一有个好歹 (if something bad happens).