HSK 6 · Verbs

发呆 fādāi “to stare blankly” in Chinese

Traditional 發呆

What 发呆 means

  1. to stare blankly
  2. to be in a daze
  3. to be stunned
  4. to be lost in thought

How to say 发呆

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale发fā1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale呆dāi1st tone, high and level

发呆 in a sentence

  1. 我在发呆。

    Wǒ zài fādāi.

    I’m daydreaming.

    Sentence #2263259 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 望着天花板发呆，还不如读一读小说。

    Wàng zhe tiānhuābǎn fādāi, hái bùrú dú yi dú xiǎoshuō.

    Rather than staring blankly at the ceiling, you might as well read a novel.

    Sentence #347122 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 发呆 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 发 (fā) drawn as one shape
发fāto send out

发 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 呆 (dāi) with each of its parts in a different colour
呆dāifoolish; stupid
  • 口mouth · kǒu
  • 木tree · mù

How to write 发呆

发 5 strokes · 呆 7 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

发呆 (fādāi) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 发呆 (fādāi). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 发呆

Words with 发

发fā · send out发烧fāshāo · have a fever头发tóufa · hair on the head发现fāxiàn · discover发生fāshēng · to happen发展fāzhǎn · development理发lǐfà · to get a haircut出发chūfā · to set off沙发shāfā · sofa发言fāyán · to make a speech

Words with 呆

呆dāi · foolish

More words: Thinking & Talking

叮嘱dīngzhǔ · to urge repeatedly断定duàndìng · to conclude督促dūcù · to supervise and urge对照duìzhào · to compare发觉fājué · to discover反驳fǎnbó · to refute反思fǎnsī · to reflect on反问fǎnwèn · to ask a rhetorical question

FAQs

发呆 (fādāi) means “to stare blankly” or “to be in a daze”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it fādāi: fā with a 1st tone, then dāi with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 发呆 is written 發呆. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type fadai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 发呆 from the suggestions. Typing fadai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
发呆 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.