dài
conjunction

Meanings

  1. 1 until; by the time that (classical)
  2. 2 to reach; to come up to (classical)

Examples

Dài zhū fù yì cuàn, tíngyuàn yǐ jǐjīng biànqiān.
By the time the uncles set up separate kitchens, the courtyard had changed many times over.

Tips

history
Not used in modern speech; the everyday equivalent is 等到 or . It is a classical conjunction famous from Gui Youguang's essay phrase .
register
Classical literary only — found in essays and old prose, not in modern conversation.

Components

radical
chuò
to walk; movement
The walk radical , written last, is the running form of (to go); it suggests reaching or arriving at a point in time — 'until'.
phonetic
tái
platform; here phonetic
The inner gives the sound; its reading drifted from tái to dài, a typical shift in this phonetic series.

Stroke Order

dài