戴 dài — to put on or wear on the head or body (a hat, glasses, a watch, gloves); to bear, to support

Pinyin

• dài (fourth tone, falling)

to put on or wear on the head or body (a hat, glasses, a watch, gloves); to bear, to support

Character breakdown

• 𢦏sound partno entry yet𢦏 zāi, the element wrapping the top and right of the character — a halberd 戈 with a bar across it. It supplies the sound and the character is filed under its 戈.
• 異meaning partno entry yetA figure with both hands raised above the head, holding something up — the gesture of putting on a headdress.

Mnemonic

Seventeen strokes, and the picture inside them is a pair of hands raised over a head, putting something on. That is the whole rule: 戴 is for what you hang on the body — 戴帽子, 戴眼镜, 戴手表, 戴手套 — while 穿 is for what the body goes into. Write the 𢦏 frame first, then fill the middle, then the long diagonal and its dot last.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

Words containing 戴

• 戴dài (fourth tone, falling)to wear, to put on (accessories — hats, glasses, watches, jewellery)

Radical 戈 — other characters

• 我wǒ (third tone, dipping)I, me; my