Dong Chinese dictionary

dài, dāi

wait, stay, treat

Phonosemantic compound. 彳 represents the meaning and 寺 represents the sound.

Components

彳 Meaning component

chì

walk

彳 is a component form of 行.

寺 Sound component

sì

temple

待 and 寺 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.待 /*[d]ˤəʔ/
寺 /*s-[d]əʔ-s/

Evolution

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

dài

treat, entertain, receive; wait; to wait; to treat; to deal with; to need; going to (do sth); about to; intending to

dāi

to stay

Most common words with 待

Sources