Meaning of 大米
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- (husked) rice
How to use 大米
大米 refers to uncooked, husked rice, the kind you buy in a bag at the store. Once it is cooked, people usually call it 米饭 (mǐfàn). Example: 我去超市买了一袋大米。(Wǒ qù chāoshì mǎi le yí dài dàmǐ.) I went to the supermarket and bought a bag of rice.
大 (dà) means big and 米 (mǐ) means rice grain, so 大米 is the big everyday grain on the table. Picture 米 as a grain with husks flying off in four directions, leaving clean, husked rice.
Common mistake: Learners often order 大米 at a restaurant when they mean a bowl of cooked rice. Ask for 米饭 (mǐfàn) instead, because 大米 sounds like you want raw grain.
大米 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
米 mǐ · uncooked rice · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Related words
Words that share a character with 大米.
| 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 |
| 米饭 | mǐfàn | (cooked) rice |
| 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 大米
What does 大米 mean?
大米 (dàmǐ) means "(husked) rice" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 大米?
大米 is made of 2 characters: 大 (3 strokes), 米 (6 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 大米 an HSK word?
Yes. 大米 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Does 大米 mean big rice?
No. Here 大 does not describe grain size. 大米 is simply the standard word for husked rice, as opposed to millet, which is 小米 (xiǎomǐ).
What measure word goes with 大米?
Use container or weight words, such as 一袋大米 (yí dài dàmǐ, a bag of rice) or 一斤大米 (yì jīn dàmǐ, half a kilo of rice). For cooked rice you say 一碗米饭 (yì wǎn mǐfàn, a bowl of rice).