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]
だい • (dai)
- [from 1908] (informal, men's speech) an interrogative particle
- どうしたんだい？
- Dō shita n dai?
- What’s the matter?
- [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.
| For pronunciation and definitions of だい – see the following entries.
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- [prefix] ordinal marker, often with affix 号
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(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.)
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