Kilo Lingo

(dà gài) - probably, roughly, approximately in Mandarin

gài

Traditional: 大概

Line drawing of 大概
Coloured illustration of 大概
HSK 4
#648 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

probably, roughly, approximately

Word origin

The word 大概 combines 大 'big, general' with 概 'general, approximate'. 概 is a phono-semantic compound with the 木 (wood) radical, originally a levelling stick used to strike off grain measures, hence 'roughly, in general'. Together they mean 'probably, approximately'.

Origin
compound
Root
大 (dà, big) + 概 (gài, general: 木 wood radical)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 大

Stroke order for 概

Examples

He probably won't come.

bǎi

This book is roughly a hundred yuan.

I roughly know the answer.

He will probably arrive at ten.

Used in

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This word is part of lesson 13.