Language/Mandarin-chinese/Vocabulary/代-dài

代 dài substitute for, take the place of; generation in Mandarin Chinese

Definition

Radical is 人 rén “person”, which is written 亻 when occurring at the left-hand side of a character so as not to get in the way of the component at the right. The colloquial name for this radical is 人字旁 rénzìpáng “side made up of the character 人.” This whole character can serve as a phonetic, e.g., in the character 袋 as in the word 袋子 dàizi “bag.” Distinguish 代 from 什 shén and 他 tā.

Examples

• 代 dài substitute for, take the place of [V/CV]
• 以A代B yĭ A dài B take A to substitute for B; substitute A for B [PT]
• 以汽水代酒 yĭ qìshuĭ dài jiŭ “substitute soda for liquor”
• 代替 dàitì replace, substitute [V]

Sources

Book: Intermediate Written Chinese by Cornelius C. Kubler