黛

dài
代 + 黑

Definitions

dài umber-black dye for painting the eyebrow

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the meaning and 代 represents the sound.

Semantic: 黑 Phonetic: 代

About

黛 (dài) is a phonosemantic compound: 黑 (hēi, 'black') gives the meaning, and 代 (dài) the sound. It originally denoted a dark mineral pigment used by women in ancient China to paint their eyebrows. By metonymy, it came to refer to beautiful women or their painted eyebrows. The meaning later extended to describe dark, blue-black, or deep green colors in nature, often appearing in classical literature and poetry to depict the dark silhouettes of distant mountains or deep bodies of water under dim lighting.

Example Sentences Hide

她的眉毛宛如黛色。

Tā de méimao wǎnrú dài sè.

Her eyebrows are like the color of dark pigment.

她用黛笔轻轻描眉。

Tā yòng dài bǐ qīngqīng miáo méi.

She gently draws her eyebrows with an eyebrow pencil.

黛玉是红楼梦里的角色。

Dàiyù shì Hónglóumèng lǐ de juésè.

Daiyu is a character in Dream of the Red Chamber.

山色空蒙，远峰如黛。

Shān sè kōng méng, yuǎn fēng rú dài.

The mountain scene is misty, the distant peaks are dark green.

她眉间总凝着一抹轻黛。

Tā méi jiān zǒng níng zhe yī mǒ qīng dài.

A touch of light dark pigment always seems to gather between her brows.

妆容精致，黛眉朱唇相映。

Zhuāngróng jīngzhì, dài méi zhū chún xiāng yìng.

Her makeup is exquisite, with dark eyebrows and red lips complementing each other.

春山淡冶而如笑，夏山苍翠而如滴，秋山明净而如妆，冬山惨淡而如睡，四时之山色皆可入黛。

Chūn shān dàn yě ér rú xiào, xià shān cāngcuì ér rú dī, qiū shān míngjìng ér rú zhuāng, dōng shān cǎndàn ér rú shuì, sì shí zhī shān sè jiē kě rù dài.

Spring mountains are faint and graceful like a smile, summer mountains are verdant as if dripping, autumn mountains are bright and clean as if adorned, winter mountains are bleak as if asleep; the colors of the mountains in all four seasons can be captured in dark green.

这幅水墨画以淡黛渲染出江南的烟雨迷离。

Zhè fú shuǐmò huà yǐ dàn dài xuànrǎn chū Jiāngnán de yānyǔ mílí.

This ink wash painting uses light shades of dark green to depict the misty, rainy haziness of the Jiangnan region.

Related Characters

Component: 代

袋 贷 岱 玳 貸 垈 牮

Component: 黑

默 墨 嘿 黯 黝 黔 黜 黠 黩 黢 黧 點 黥 黟

Example Words

林黛玉 奥黛丽 奥黛莉 眉黛 粉黛 黛安娜