大哥 meaning in English
eldest brother; big brother (polite address for a man of about the same age as oneself)
Meaning of 大哥
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- eldest brother
- big brother (polite address for a man of about the same age as oneself)
- gang leader; boss
How to use 大哥
In a family, 大哥 is the eldest brother. People also use it to politely address a man around their own age or a bit older, like a taxi driver or a stranger asking for directions. In slang and films it can mean a gang boss. Example: 大哥，请问地铁站在哪儿？ (Dàgē, qǐngwèn dìtiězhàn zài nǎr?) Excuse me, brother, where is the subway station?
大 (dà) means big and 哥 (gē) means older brother, so 大哥 is the biggest, oldest brother. Picture 哥 as two 可 stacked up, one brother standing on top of the other, with the eldest one being the 大 at the front.
Common mistake: Learners often read it as dàge with a neutral tone like 哥哥 (gēge), but in 大哥 the 哥 keeps its first tone: dàgē. Also, do not call a much older man 大哥; 叔叔 (shūshu) fits better for someone around your parents' age.
大哥 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
哥 gē · elder brother · 10 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Related words
Words that share a character with 大哥.
| 哥哥 | gēge | older brother |
| 大学 | dàxué | university; college |
| 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 |
| 大人 | dàren | adult; grownup |
| 长大 | zhǎngdà | to grow up |
| 大部分 | dàbùfen | the greater part; the majority; most; Taiwan pr. [da4bu4fen4] |
| 大声 | dà shēng | loud voice; in a loud voice |
| 大量 | dàliàng | great amount; large quantity |
| 大多数 | dàduōshù | (great) majority |
| 大海 | dàhǎi | sea; ocean |
Questions about 大哥
What does 大哥 mean?
大哥 (dàgē) means "eldest brother; big brother (polite address for a man of about the same age as oneself)" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 大哥?
大哥 is made of 2 characters: 大 (3 strokes), 哥 (10 strokes). That is 13 strokes in total.
Is 大哥 an HSK word?
Yes. 大哥 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 大哥 and 哥哥?
哥哥 (gēge) is any older brother and is the common family word. 大哥 specifically means the eldest brother when there are several, and it also works as a friendly address for men who are not relatives.
Is there a female version of 大哥?
Yes, 大姐 (dàjiě) means eldest sister and is used the same way to politely address a woman around your age or a little older. Like 大哥, it sounds warm and casual rather than formal.