ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

correct; toward; pair

duì
5 strokes · 又 (hand) + 寸 (inch/rule) — a hand measuring against a standard · HSK 1

Where 对 comes from

A hand (又) held against a measuring rule (寸): checking something against the standard. What matches the standard is correct; facing something to compare it gave 'toward'.

对 in Chinese culture

对 is the Swiss-army knife of Mandarin: 对不起 sorry, 对了 'oh right!', 面对 to face. Agree with someone? Just say 对对对 — the triple 对 is practically punctuation in Chinese conversation.

Example

对不起 duìbuqǐ — sorry

你说得对。
Nǐ shuō de duì.
What you said is right.

How to remember it

A HAND against the RULER — checking it's CORRECT.

对 also means 'a pair' — 一对 couple. Correctness and coupling share one character: things that match.

Same sound, different tones

1st duī
pile
4th duì
correct
4th duì
team; queue

Words unlocked by 对

对不起 duìbuqǐ
sorry
面对 miànduì
to face

Related characters

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