Big in Japanese is 大きい, read ookii. That is the adjective you would actually say out loud, and the kanji at the front of it is 大, a three-stroke character that on its own reads dai or tai. It began as a picture of a person standing with arms and legs flung wide.
Big in Japanese
Big in Japanese is 大きい (ookii), the adjective, written with the kanji 大. The character alone has three strokes and reads dai or tai in compounds: 大学 (daigaku, university), 大切 (taisetsu, precious). Before a noun you use the adjective directly, as in 大きい家 (ookii ie, a big house).
There is a second adjective form, 大きな (ookina), which only appears in front of a noun: 大きな声 (ookina koe, a loud voice). Both are correct there and Japanese speakers switch by rhythm rather than rule.
The Kanji for Big: 大
- Character: 大
- On’yomi: ダイ (dai), タイ (tai)
- Kun’yomi: おお(きい) (ookii), おお(いに) (ooini)
- Stroke count: 3
- General meaning: big, large, great
- Radical: 大 is itself radical number 37, and it is one of the first characters Japanese children learn in their first year of school
Japanese Symbol for Big
The Japanese symbol for big is a person. In oracle bone script 大 is a human figure drawn head on, arms stretched out to the sides and legs planted apart, which is the gesture anyone makes when describing how large a fish was. The horizontal bar across the top is the arms. The two diagonals are the legs. The head, which the earliest forms included, dropped away.
That origin explains a whole family of characters. Add a bar above 大 and you get 天 (ten, heaven), the space over a person’s head. Add a dot below and you get 太 (futoi, thick or fat). Add a short stroke at the upper right and you get 犬 (inu, dog). All four are the same body with a different mark on it.
Visually, 大 is mostly empty. Three strokes hold a wide open triangle, and the character is stable because the crossbar sits high and the legs spread low. It reads as steady rather than loud, which is part of why it works so well brushed at size.
How to Write Big in Japanese
Three strokes, in the order you would expect. Write the horizontal bar first, left to right, slightly rising. Second, the long left-falling diagonal: start on the bar, a little left of centre, and sweep down and out to the lower left, thinning at the tail. Third, the right-falling diagonal: start where the second stroke crosses the bar and press down and out to the lower right, ending heavier.
The two diagonals should not begin at the same point on the bar. The left one starts left of centre and the right one leaves from the crossing, which is what keeps the character from looking pinched.
How to Say Big in Japanese
Ookii has four beats: o-o-ki-i. Say “oh-OH-kee-ee,” holding both the opening vowel and the closing one. Shortening it to “okee” is the standard learner slip and it changes the rhythm enough to be noticed. Dai rhymes with English “die.” Tai rhymes with “tie.”
Some ordinary sentences:
- この部屋は大きいですね。(Kono heya wa ookii desu ne.) This room is big, isn’t it.
- もっと大きいサイズはありますか。(Motto ookii saizu wa arimasu ka.) Do you have a bigger size?
- 声が大きいです。(Koe ga ookii desu.) Your voice is loud.
- 兄は大学生です。(Ani wa daigakusei desu.) My older brother is a university student.
- 大丈夫ですか。(Daijoubu desu ka.) Are you all right?
Words and Compounds With 大
In compounds 大 does a second job beyond size. It signals scale, seriousness, and importance. A thing that is 大 is not just physically large, it matters.
| Word | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 大学 | daigaku | university, literally “great learning” |
| 大切 | taisetsu | important, precious, treasured |
| 大丈夫 | daijoubu | all right, no problem |
| 大人 | otona | adult |
| 大好き | daisuki | to love, to like a great deal |
| 大変 | taihen | serious, tough; also “very” |
| 偉大 | idai | greatness, magnificence |
| 最大 | saidai | the largest, the maximum |
大人 is the odd one out. It is read otona, a special reading assigned to the pair rather than to either character, so neither 大 nor 人 sounds the way you expect. 大丈夫 is the phrase you will hear most often in Japan, dozens of times a day, covering everything from “are you hurt” to “no thanks.”
Big in Japanese Culture
On the night of 16 August, Kyoto burns the character 大 into a mountainside. The event is 五山送り火 (Gozan no Okuribi), the send-off fires that close Obon and return visiting ancestral spirits to the other world. Five figures are lit on five mountains around the city, five minutes apart from eight in the evening, each burning for around half an hour.
The first and most famous is the 大 on Daimonji-yama, and it is enormous: the three strokes of the fire run roughly 160, 120, and 80 metres. From the banks of the Kamo River you watch a three-thousand-year-old pictograph of a standing person appear in flame above the rooftops. It is the largest anyone writes this character, and one of the few times a kanji is the whole event.
As a Tattoo
大 is popular precisely because it is simple, balanced, and instantly recognizable. Three strokes hold a lot of open space, so a well-brushed 大 reads as calm rather than crowded.
The warning is specific and it is the most common kanji tattoo error there is. One extra short stroke in the upper right turns 大 into 犬 (inu), which means dog. The two characters differ by a single mark. If your artist is copying from a low-resolution photo or a screenshot, that dot can appear or vanish without anyone noticing. The same family holds 太 (futoi, thick or fat), which is 大 with a dot beneath it, and 天 (ten, heaven), which is 大 with a bar across the top. A single mark moves you between four different words.
Japanese and Chinese write 大 identically, so this character carries no script conflict. A reader in either language sees the same word, which cuts both ways: there is no ambiguity to hide behind if the meaning is not what you wanted.
Because it is only three strokes, 大 scales down cleanly and suits small placements like the inner wrist, the ankle, or behind the ear. At larger sizes the negative space becomes the design, and any wobble in the diagonals shows immediately.
If “big” alone feels thin, consider a compound. 偉大 (idai) means greatness. 大切 (taisetsu) means precious. Both say something a single character cannot. Whichever you choose, confirm with a native speaker before you ink.
Set your character vertically and horizontally in different brush styles with the Japanese Tattoo Generator, and read the broader context in our guide to japanese tattoo meanings.
Related Kanji
FAQ
How do you say big in Japanese?
Big in Japanese is 大きい (ookii), pronounced “oh-OH-kee-ee” with four beats. Before a noun you can also use 大きな (ookina), as in 大きな声 (ookina koe, a loud voice). The kanji on its own, 大, reads dai or tai inside compound words.
What is the kanji for big?
The kanji for big is 大, three strokes, radical number 37. Its on’yomi are dai and tai, its kun’yomi is ookii. It comes from a pictograph of a person standing with arms and legs spread wide, and it is taught in the first year of Japanese elementary school.
What is the difference between ookii and ookina?
Both mean big. 大きい (ookii) is a regular adjective and can end a sentence: この家は大きい. 大きな (ookina) only appears directly in front of a noun and cannot end a sentence. Where both are possible, speakers pick by sound, and 大きな tends to feel a little more literary.
What is the difference between 大 and 犬?
犬 is 大 with one additional short stroke in the upper right, and it means dog. The characters are otherwise identical. This is the single most common look-alike error in kanji tattoos, so check the reference image at full resolution before any needle touches skin.
Why does Kyoto burn the kanji 大 on a mountain?
The event is 五山送り火 (Gozan no Okuribi), the send-off fires that close the Obon festival on 16 August and return ancestral spirits to the other world. Five figures are lit on five mountains around the city, and the 大 on Daimonji-yama is the first, with strokes running roughly 160, 120, and 80 metres.
Does 大 mean the same thing in Chinese?
Yes. 大 is written the same way in Japanese, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese, and it means big or great in all three. The pronunciation differs, but the meaning and the shape do not.