Chinese Character Wiki
歹

dǎi

evil, bad

Original meaning: 

bone remnants

Variant of 歺. Depicts skeletal remains from a carcass. The meaning later shifted to "bad" and "evil".

Evolution

歹 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
歹 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
歹 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

歹  

dǎi

bad, vicious, depraved, wicked; bad; wicked; evil; Kangxi radical 78

Most common words with 歹
Freq.
Word
Meaning

歹徒

evildoer

好歹

good and bad

为非作歹

evildoer

歹

bad

歹毒

vicious

Component uses

Meaning component in 27 characters (5 verified)

殘 残 殊 殖 殄 歼 殲 殭 殆 殉 殃 殡 殯 殁 殓 殮 殒 殞 殚 殫 殇 殤 殛 殍 殂 殪 殗

Sound component in 1 character (1 verified)

列

Iconic component in 2 characters (2 verified)

死 列

Unknown component in 1 character (0 verified)

薤

Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 3.6841% of movies

2687th most common character in movies

2905th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

4

Unicode

U+6B79

Shuowen

“歹，骨之殘也。从半冎。讀若櫱岸之櫱。，古文歺。”
Sources

黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.2405

林志強《《文源》評注》p.126



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