待 (dāi) · to stay, to remain

Meanings

1 to stay
2 to remain

Characters

待

dāi

to stay

Examples

HSK 1

待会儿见！

Dāihuìr jiàn!

See you in a bit!

HSK 3

你待在这里别动，我马上回来。

Nǐ dāi zài zhèlǐ bié dòng, wǒ mǎshàng huílai.

Stay right here and don't move, I'll be right back.

HSK 4

他打算在国外多待几年，积累工作经验。

Tā dǎsuan zài guówài duō dāi jǐ nián, jīlěi gōngzuò jīngyàn.

He plans to stay abroad a few more years to gain work experience.

Tips

register

Colloquial. dāi 待 is a casual alternative to 呆 in the 'stay / hang around' sense - 待着 (stay put), 待在家里 (stay at home). For waiting, dealing with, or hosting, switch to the dài reading instead.

memory

Easy split: if 待 sits inside a multi-character compound (e.g. 等待, 招待), it's almost always dài. If it's standalone in casual speech and means 'stay,' read it dāi. The flagship exception is 待会儿 - short for 'stay a moment / in a bit,' so still dāi.

Components

radical

彳 chì

step; left-step radical

Left-step radical on the left - the indexing semantic. 彳 depicts a short step, and 待 centers on holding a position along a path: waiting, dealing with, hosting. Joins the locomotion-and-stance family with 行 (walk), 往 (go toward), 役 (service), 德 (virtue).

phonetic

寺 sì

temple; office (here phonetic)

Right component supplies the sound: sì to dài with initial drift but rime preserved. 寺 originally meant a government office (now also temple), itself 土 (earth/place) over 寸 (measure/hand). As a phonetic it powers a tight cluster: 持 (hold), 时 (time), 等 (wait - close synonym!), 特 (special).