Meaning of 大学
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- university; college
Measure word: 所
- the Great Learning, one of the Four Books 四書|四书[Si4 shu1] in Confucianism
How to use 大学
大学 is the everyday word for a university or college, and it often appears in school names like 北京大学 (Běijīng Dàxué, Peking University). To say you attend one, use 上大学 (shàng dàxué). Example: 我哥哥在上大学。(Wǒ gēge zài shàng dàxué.) My older brother is in college.
大 (dà) means big and 学 (xué) means study, so a university is the "big place of study." Picture 大, a person stretching their arms wide, standing in front of a huge school.
Common mistake: Learners often write 大学生 when they mean 大学. 大学 is the school and 大学生 (dàxuéshēng) is a university student. Also keep 学 (xué) in the second tone. Do not let it drift to xuě, which sounds like 雪 (snow).
大学 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
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- 3
学 xué · to learn · 8 strokes
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- 4
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Related words
Words that share a character with 大学.
| 学校 | xuéxiào | school |
| 学生 | xuéshēng | student; schoolchild |
| 学习 | xuéxí | to learn; to study |
| 同学 | tóngxué | to study at the same school; fellow student |
| 上学 | shàngxué | to go to school; to attend school |
| 学院 | xuéyuàn | college; educational institute |
| 中学 | zhōngxué | middle school |
| 放学 | fàngxué | to dismiss students at the end of the school day |
| 小学 | xiǎoxué | elementary school; primary school |
| 大学生 | dàxuéshēng | university student; college student |
| 不大 | bù dà | not very (clear, far away etc); not too; not often; infrequently |
| 小学生 | xiǎoxuéshēng | primary school student; schoolchild |
Questions about 大学
What does 大学 mean?
大学 (dàxué) means "university; college" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 大学?
大学 is made of 2 characters: 大 (3 strokes), 学 (8 strokes). That is 11 strokes in total.
Is 大学 an HSK word?
Yes. 大学 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 大学 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 大学 is written 大學.
What is the difference between 大学 and 学院?
大学 usually means a full university with many fields of study. 学院 (xuéyuàn) is often a smaller college or a school within a university, such as a college of engineering.
What does 大学 mean when it is capitalized as Dàxué?
As a proper name, 大学 is the Great Learning, one of the Four Books 四书 (Sì Shū) of Confucianism. You will mostly see this sense in writing about classical texts and philosophy.