殆 meaning and stroke order
Almost, probably; danger, peril; to endanger
How to write 殆, stroke by stroke
9 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 殆
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (literary) dangerous; perilous
- (literary) almost; well-nigh
How 殆 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Death.
歹 gives the meaning and 台 hints at the sound.
Radical: 歹 (corpse), shared by 29 characters on this site.
How to remember 殆
殆 combines 歹, a component linked to death, with 台 (tái), which gives the sound. Picture something standing on a platform 台 at the edge of death 歹: it is in danger, almost gone.
殆 is literary and appears mostly in set phrases and formal writing, not everyday speech. Its most common word is 殆尽 (dàijìn), meaning almost used up. Example: 森林被砍伐殆尽。(Sēnlín bèi kǎnfá dàijìn.) The forest has been almost completely cut down.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes read 殆 as tái because of the 台 component, but it is pronounced dài with a fourth tone. It is also easy to confuse with 怠 (dài, lazy), which has the same sound but uses 心 under 台 instead of 歹 on the left.
Common words with 殆
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 殆尽 | dàijìn | almost exhausted; nearly depleted; practically nothing left |
殆 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 殆
How many strokes are in 殆?
殆 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 殆 mean?
殆 (dài) means almost, probably; danger, peril; to endanger. A common word with it is 殆尽 (dàijìn), meaning "almost exhausted; nearly depleted; practically nothing left".
How do you pronounce 殆?
殆 is pronounced dài, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 殆?
The radical of 殆 is 歹, which carries the idea of "corpse". Dictionaries list 殆 under this radical.
What does 知己知彼，百战不殆 mean?
This famous line from Sunzi's Art of War means 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will not be in danger in a hundred battles.' Here 殆 has its literary sense of danger or peril.
Can I use 殆 to say 'almost' in normal conversation?
Not really. In speech, people say 几乎 (jīhū) or 差不多 (chàbuduō) for almost. 殆 sounds bookish outside fixed words like 殆尽.