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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

戴

dài
to wear something on the head; to carry on the head
  • pictogram
  • HSK 4
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 戈
  • 17 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
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Origin

In the oracle bone script, a pictogram (象形) of a person holding something on their head with both hands. Possibly originally the same character as 異 (“person wearing a mask” or “person carrying something on their head”), see there for more.

Later, a phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声), with 異 (OC *lɯɡs) serving as the semantic (and also possibly phonetic) component, and either 弋 (OC *lɯɡ), 𢦏 (OC *ʔslɯː), or 之 (OC *tjɯ) acting as a phonetic component.

According to Schuessler 2007 (p. 203), borrowed from Mon-Khmer; compare Old Khmer ទាយ៑ (“to carry, hold up”). However, based on the Baxter-Sagart reconstruction of the Old pronunciation, a Sino-Tibetan origin seems possible; compare Burmese တက် (tak, “to ascend, come up”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese𢦏 “to hurt; to wound”
    • meaningChinese戈 “dagger-axe (an ancient Chinese weapon similar to a halberd)”
    • soundChinese才 “ability; gift; talent; capability”
  • partChinese異 “different; other”
    • componentChinese田 “farmland (Classifier: 塊／块 m c)”
    • componentChinese共 “common”
      • ideaChinese廾 “both hands”
      • ideaChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”

Related: Old Khmer ទាយ៑, Burmese တက်

Meanings

character
  1. to wear something on the head; to carry on the head
  2. to put on; to wear (a hat, scarf, jewelry, wristwatch, glasses, flower or other object that is “attached” to the body)
  3. to support; to bear
  4. to respect; to esteem
  5. a surname

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

戴：分物得增益曰戴。从異𢦔聲。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 把東西附加在頭、面、胸、臂等處。 例：戴帽子、戴眼鏡、戴花　◎
  2. 擁護、推崇。 例：愛戴、擁戴
  3. 頂著。 例：披星戴月
  4. 姓。

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 戴 was written 字形演變

  1. 戴 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  2. 戴 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Structural decomposition (chaizi) — See upstream
  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 戴