だい

See also: たい, tai, タイ, and Appendix:Variations of "tai"

Japanese

Etymology 1

Compound of だ (da, the plain-form copula or "to be" verb) +‎ い (emphatic particle, used in compounds with certain sentence-ending particles to create a familiar effect).^[1][2]

Attested since at least 1809.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [da̠i]

Particle

だい • (dai) 

1. [from 1908] (informal, men's speech) an interrogative particle

   どうしたんだい？

   Dō shita n dai?

   What’s the matter?

2. [from 1809] (dated) a particle used to state something with conviction

   そんなのはいらねえってんだい。

   Sonna no wa iranē tte n dai.

   I don't need that stuff.

See also

• かい (kai)
• わい (wai)

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of だい – see the following entries.

【代】3 [noun] price [noun] generation of a family [noun] reign of a royal [noun] decade [noun] era [counter] generation of a royal family [counter] era, age, decade [suffix] charge, fare, rate, fee, price, rent [suffix] (indicating years spanning a specific period) -ies, -hundreds

【台】2 [counter] machines, especially vehicles or computers [suffix] tables, beds [suffix] level, especially of price [suffix] period of time in a person's life

【題】3 [noun] title [noun] theme [noun] issue [noun] problem [counter] questions on a test [suffix] question on a test [suffix] (calligraphy) calligraphy by […]

【大】1 [prefix] big, large [prefix] the large part of [prefix] (religion) arch- [suffix] Abbreviation of 大学 (daigaku, “university”). Alternative spelling die

【第】3 [prefix] ordinal marker, often with affix 号 Alternative spelling 㐧

(This term, だい (dai), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as だい, see Category:Japanese kanji read as だい.)

References

1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN