Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

多 (radical 36 夕+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 弓戈弓戈 (NINI), four-corner 2720₇, composition ⿱夕夕)

Descendants

• タ

References

• KangXi: page 246, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5756
• Dae Jaweon: page 489, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 862, character 2
• Unihan data for U+591A

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 多
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Pictogram (象形) – two pieces of meat (⺼); the ⺼ components have been simplified to 夕.

The conventional explanation is that this represented the concept of “many” through visual repetition. However, the earliest oracle bones use 多 for both “many” and another word meaning “to separate”, thus suggesting that 多 depicts a piece of meat cut in two. The word “to separate” was later written as 誃 (OC *l'al, *l̥ʰjalʔ).

Etymology

Related to Proto-Tai *ʰlaːjᴬ ‎(“many, much”), whence Thai หลาย ‎(lǎai, “many”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

多

1. many; much; a lot of; numerous

   Antonyms: 少 (shǎo)

   • 街上有很多人。  ―  Jiēshàng yǒu hěn duō rén.  ―  There is a lot of people in the street
2. (after an amount) over; and more; more than
   • 兩年多 / 两年多  ―  liǎng nián duō  ―  more than two years
3. (used in comparison structure 得多, 多了) much more; a lot more; far more
   • 他比我高得多。  ―  Tā bǐ wǒ gāo de duō.  ―  He is a lot taller than I am.
   • 病人今天好多了。  ―  Bìngrén jīntiān hǎo duō le.  ―  The patient is much better today.
4. more
   • 我應該多運動。 / 我应该多运动。  ―  Wǒ yìnggāi duō yùndòng.  ―  I should exercise more.
   • 冚多張被 / 冚多张被 [Cantonese]  ―  kam²do¹ zoeng¹ pei⁵ [Jyutping]  ―  put on one more blanket
   • 今天比昨天冷，得多穿一件外套。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

     Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān lěng, děi duō chuān yī jiàn wàitào. [Pinyin]

     Today is colder than yesterday, so you have to put on one more jacket.

5. extra; in excess
   • 佢真係好易醉，飲多兩杯啤酒就冧咗喇。 [Cantonese, trad.]
     佢真系好易醉，饮多两杯啤酒就冧咗喇。 [Cantonese, simp.]

     Keoi⁵ zan¹ hai⁶ hou² ji⁶ zeoi³, jam²do¹ loeng⁵ bui¹ be¹ zau² zau⁶ lam³ zo² laa³. [Jyutping]

     He gets drunk really easily. He passed out after drinking a few extra glasses of beer.

6. (used in question) how; how much; what
   • 你到學校要走多遠的距離？ [MSC, trad.]
     你到学校要走多远的距离？ [MSC, simp.]

     Nǐ dào xuéxiào yào zǒu duō yuǎn de jùlí? [Pinyin]

     What distance do you have to walk to school ?

   • 你多高？  ―  Nǐ duō gāo?  ―  How tall are you?
7. (emphasis in exclamations) so, how, what
   • 看她多漂亮啊！  ―  Kàn tā duō piàoliàng a!  ―  Look how pretty she is!
   • 她戴的帽子多可愛呀！ [MSC, trad.]
     她戴的帽子多可爱呀！ [MSC, simp.]

     Tā dài de màozǐ duō kě'ài ya! [Pinyin]

     What an adorable hat she is wearing! / The hat she is wearing is so adorable!

8. to have a lot
9. to have more; to have too much; to have too many
   • 他買了四張票，多了一張。 [MSC, trad.]
     他买了四张票，多了一张。 [MSC, simp.]

     Tā mǎi le sì zhāng piào, duō le yī zhāng. [Pinyin]

     He bought four tickets, which was one too many.

Usage notes

• (over, more than): When the number is smaller or equal to 10, 多 can be put after the measure word. If it is bigger than ten, 多 has to be put before the measure word.
• (more): Placing 多 after the verb is correct but it is less natural than placing it before.

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. many, much

Readings

• Goon: た (ta)
• Kan’on: た (ta)
• Kun: おおい (多い, ōi), まさる (masaru), まさに (masani), (archaic) さわ (sawa)

Compounds

• 多分 (たぶん) ‎(tabun)

Derived terms

• 多 (おお)く ‎(ōku)
• 多 (おお)い ‎(ōi)

Korean

Hanja

多 • ‎(da) (hangeul 다, revised da, McCune-Reischauer ta)

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Vietnamese

Han character

多 (đa, nhật)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.