Chinese Radicles Series歹dǎi

The pictogram of the word 歹dǎi represents the bones of a dead person.

The word 歹dǎi is used in phrases to convey the meaning of ‘evil’ or ‘to do evil’, for example, 歹徒 (dǎitú,’criminals’)，为非作歹 (wéifēizuòdǎi, ‘to do illegal and evil things’).

歹 can be used in word formation, often positioned on the left, to convey the meaning of ‘death’. Some examples are 死 (sǐ, ‘death’), 残 (cán,’ incomplete’) ，殉 (xùn,’ die while on official duty’) and 歼 (jiān, ‘eliminate’).

The J (short for 歼) series fighter of aircraft歼型 (jiānxíng,’ search’)  developed by China, which includes stealth aircraft, is so named as it is intended to destroy 歼灭 (jiānmiè, ‘shoot’) enemy aircraft in battle.

Idioms and phrases

歹毒 dǎi dú

vicious

好歹 hǎo dǎi

Good or bad

不识好歹 bùshí-hǎodǎi

Not knowing good from bad; often used by someone whose suggestion or offer has been rejected by someone else.