Meaning of 大人
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- adult
- grownup
- title of respect toward superiors
How to use 大人
In daily speech 大人 means adult, usually contrasted with 小孩 (xiǎohái) child. You see it on ticket prices, rules, and when parents talk about kids. Example: 这是大人的事，小孩别管。(Zhè shì dàren de shì, xiǎohái bié guǎn.) This is grownup business, kids stay out of it.
大 (dà) means big and 人 (rén) means person, so a 大人 is simply a big person. Picture a grownup standing next to a small child.
Common mistake: Learners often say dà rén with a full second tone on 人, but in everyday speech it is dàren with a light neutral tone. Also do not confuse 大人 with 人大 (Réndà), which is short for the National People's Congress or Renmin University.
大人 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
大 dà · big · 3 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
人 rén · person · 2 strokes
- 1
- 2
Related words
Words that share a character with 大人.
| 女人 | nǚrén | woman |
| 男人 | nánrén | a man; a male |
| 别人 | biérén | other people; others; other person |
| 家人 | jiārén | family member; (old) servant |
| 大学 | dàxué | university; college |
| 病人 | bìngrén | sick person; patient |
| 工人 | gōngrén | worker |
| 老人 | lǎorén | old man or woman; the elderly |
| 大学生 | dàxuéshēng | university student; college student |
| 不大 | bù dà | not very (clear, far away etc); not too; not often; infrequently |
| 大家 | dàjiā | everyone; influential family |
| 有人 | yǒu rén | someone; people |
Questions about 大人
What does 大人 mean?
大人 (dàren) means "adult; grownup" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 大人?
大人 is made of 2 characters: 大 (3 strokes), 人 (2 strokes). That is 5 strokes in total.
Is 大人 an HSK word?
Yes. 大人 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why do I hear 大人 used for officials in Chinese dramas?
In older Chinese, 大人 was a title of respect for superiors and officials, similar to "Your Excellency" or "my lord." You will hear it in historical dramas, like 张大人 (Zhāng dàren) Lord Zhang, but people do not use it this way in modern life.
Is 大人 the same as 成人 (chéngrén)?
Both mean adult, but 大人 is casual and common in speech, often used by or about children. 成人 is more formal and appears in official or written contexts, such as 成人教育 (chéngrén jiàoyù) adult education.