Meaning of 大象
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- elephant
Measure word: 頭|头
How to use 大象
大象 is the everyday word for elephant, used for animals in zoos, in the wild, and in children's stories. Use the measure word 头 (tóu) or 只 (zhī) with it. Example: 动物园里有两头大象。(Dòngwùyuán lǐ yǒu liǎng tóu dàxiàng.) There are two elephants at the zoo.
大 (dà) means big and 象 (xiàng) means elephant, so 大象 is simply the big elephant. Picture 大 as a person stretching their arms wide to show how huge the animal is.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 象 (xiàng, elephant; image) with 像 (xiàng, to resemble), which has the person radical 亻 on the left. 大象 never takes 亻, so do not write 大像.
大象 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
象 xiàng · elephant · 11 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
Related words
Words that share a character with 大象.
| 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 |
| 大门 | dàmén | entrance; door |
Questions about 大象
What does 大象 mean?
大象 (dàxiàng) means "elephant" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 大象?
大象 is made of 2 characters: 大 (3 strokes), 象 (11 strokes). That is 14 strokes in total.
Is 大象 an HSK word?
Yes. 大象 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can I just say 象 for elephant?
In formal or written contexts and in set phrases, 象 alone can mean elephant, as in 象牙 (xiàngyá) ivory. In normal speech people almost always say 大象.
What does 房间里的大象 mean?
It is a translation of the English idiom 'the elephant in the room', meaning an obvious problem nobody wants to talk about. Younger speakers and media use it, but it is borrowed, not a traditional Chinese saying.