多

多 (Kangxi radical 36, 夕+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 弓戈弓戈 (NINI), four-corner 2720₇, composition ⿱夕夕)

• 侈, 𠀲, 哆, 垑, 姼, 㡅, 恀, 拸, 陊, 䏧, 栘, 㶴, 迻, 眵, 移, 䇋, 蛥, 袳, 誃, 趍, 跢, 䡔, 𮠨, 鉹, 夥, 䬷, 夦, 䮈 (𬳾), 黟, 卶, 㩼, 夠(够), 翗, 夡, 㷇, 㚊, 㚌, 㚋, 䫂, 郺, 㚍, 㚉, 奓, 㝖, 爹, 𣆚, 茤, 㗬, 袲, 𭅚, 㞔, 㢁, 扅, 痑

• タ (Katakana character derived from Man'yōgana)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 246, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5756
• Dae Jaweon: page 489, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 862, character 2
• Unihan data for U+591A
• Unihan data for U+2F85D

Historical forms of the character 多
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) – two pieces of meat (肉). In the bronze script, 肉 was corrupted into 夕 due to visual similarity, making 多 into a duplication of 夕. The form with 夕 was inherited in later scripts.

Chi (2010) suggests that meat is scarce in ancient times, so two pieces of meat is a lot, citing a passage from Mencius:

七十者可以食肉矣。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

Qīshí zhě kěyǐ shí ròu yǐ. [Pinyin]

Persons of seventy years may eat meat.

Chang Ping-chuan suggests that it is the duplicative nature of the character that gives the meaning of "many", just like in 林 (“forest”), from 木 (“tree; wood”).

Etymology unclear. Schuessler (2007) suggests that it is in the same word family as 諸 (OC *tjaː, *tja, “many; all”) and 庶 (OC *hljaɡs, “many”).

Hill (2014, 2019) compares it to Tibetan ཆེ (che, “big”), མཐེ་བོ (mthe bo, “thumb”), Burmese တယ် (tai, “very”). STEDT derives the latter two from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ta-j (“big”), whose Chinese comparandum is 大 (OC *daːds, “large”) instead; Baxter (1992) has also compared it to this etymon.

Baxter and Sagart (1998) propose that there may be a prefix *t- in this word that gives a mass noun reading, which may nullify the connection to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ta-j (“big”). However, Baxter and Sagart (2014) may have withdrawn from this theory since they no longer indicate the *t as a prefix.

Also compare Proto-Tai *ʰlaːjᴬ (“many, much”), whence Thai หลาย (lǎai, “many”) and Zhuang lai (“many”), and Proto-Hlai *hləːy (“many”) (Gong Qunhu, 2002; Schuessler, 2007; Baxter and Sagart, 2014). Schuessler (2007) considers the Chinese word to be from Kra-Dai, but others suggest that the direction of borrowing may have been the other way (Li, 1977; Baxter and Sagart, 1998; Norquest, 2007).

多

1. many; much; a lot of; numerous

   街上有很多人。  ―  Jiēshàng yǒu hěn duō rén.  ―  There is a lot of people in the street

   • 永叔謂為文有三多：看多、做多、商量多也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     永叔谓为文有三多：看多、做多、商量多也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 11th century, 陳師道 (Chen Shidao), 《後山詩話》

     Yǒngshū wèi wèi wén yǒu sānduō: kàn duō, zuò duō, shāngliàng duō yě. [Pinyin]

     Yongshu said that in writing, there are three things to do much of. These are reading much, writing much, and revising much.

   Antonym: 少

2. (after an amount) over; and more; more than

   兩年多／两年多  ―  liǎng nián duō  ―  more than two years

3. (after an amount but before the classifier) as much as

   100多MB  ―  100 duō MB  ―  as much as 100 MB

   十幾多年／十几多年 [Cantonese]  ―  sap⁶ gei² do¹ nin⁴ [Jyutping]  ―  so many decades

4. (before a classifier) multiple

   Antonym: 單／单

   多個方面／多个方面  ―  duō ge fāngmiàn  ―  multiple facets

5. (used in comparison structure 得多, 多了) much more; a lot more; far more

   他比我高得多。  ―  Tā bǐ wǒ gāo de duō.  ―  He is a lot taller than I am.

   病人今天好多了。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Bìngrén jīntiān hǎo duō le. [Pinyin]

   The patient is much better today.

6. more

   我應該多運動。 [MSC, trad.]
   我应该多运动。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ yīnggāi duō yùndòng. [Pinyin]

   I should exercise more.

   冚多張被／冚多张被 [Cantonese]  ―  kam² do¹ zoeng¹ pei⁵ [Jyutping]  ―  put on one more blanket

   今天比昨天冷，得多穿一件外套。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān lěng, děi duō chuān yī jiàn wàitào. [Pinyin]

   Today is colder than yesterday, so you have to put on one more jacket.

7. extra; in excess

   佢真係好易醉，飲多兩杯啤酒就冧咗喇。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   佢真系好易醉，饮多两杯啤酒就冧咗喇。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   keoi⁵ zan¹ hai⁶ hou² ji⁶ zeoi³, jam² do¹ loeng⁵ bui¹ be¹ zau² zau⁶ lam³ zo² laa³. [Jyutping]

   He gets drunk really easily. He passed out after drinking a few extra glasses of beer.

8. (used in question) how; how much; what

   你到學校要走多遠的距離？ [MSC, trad.]
   你到学校要走多远的距离？ [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ dào xuéxiào yào zǒu duō yuǎn de jùlí? [Pinyin]

   How far do you have to walk to get to school?

   你多高？  ―  Nǐ duō gāo?  ―  How tall are you?

9. (emphasis in exclamations) so; how; what

   看她多漂亮啊！  ―  Kàn tā duō piàoliàng a!  ―  Look how pretty she is!

   她戴的帽子多可愛呀！ [MSC, trad.]
   她戴的帽子多可爱呀！ [MSC, simp.]

   Tā dài de màozǐ duō kě'ài ya! [Pinyin]

   What an adorable hat she is wearing! / The hat she is wearing is so adorable!

10. to have a lot
11. to have more; to have too much; to have too many

    他買了四張票，多了一張。 [MSC, trad.]
    他买了四张票，多了一张。 [MSC, simp.]

    Tā mǎi le sì zhāng piào, duō le yī zhāng. [Pinyin]

    He bought four tickets, which was one too many.

    屋企多咗一個人。 [Cantonese, trad.]
    屋企多咗一个人。 [Cantonese, simp.]

    uk¹ kei² do¹ zo² jat¹ go³ jan⁴. [Jyutping]

    The household has a new member.

12. (Cantonese) few; little

    咁多多 [Cantonese]  ―  gam³ doe¹ doe¹ [Jyutping]  ―  just this much (meaning “just very few”)

• (over, more than): When the number is smaller or equal to 10, 多 can be put after the measure word. If it is bigger than ten, 多 has to be put before the measure word.
• (more): In Mandarin, 多 is usually placed before the verb, but in Cantonese, it is usually placed after the verb.

• (after an amount): 幾／几 (jǐ); (Hokkien, Teochew) 外

Others:

• →? Proto-Hlai: *hləːy
• →? Proto-Tai: *ʰlaːjᴬ

多

1. (Southern Min) Alternative form of 濟／济 (“many”)

多

1. (Cantonese) Short for 多士 (“toast”).

   奶油多 [Cantonese]  ―  naai⁵ jau⁴ do¹ [Jyutping]  ―  toast with condensed milk and butter

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. many, much

• Go-on: た (ta, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: た (ta, Jōyō)
• Kun: おおい (ōi, 多い, Jōyō)^{←おほい (ofoi, 多い, historical)}; さわ (sawa, 多)^{←さは (safa, 多, historical)}
• Nanori: おおし (ōshi); かず (kazu); な (na); なお (nao); まさ (masa); まさる (masaru)

• 多(た)分(ぶん) (tabun)

多(た) • (ta-) 

1. multi-

   多(た)言(げん)語(ご)辞(じ)書(しょ)

   tagengojisho

   multilingual dictionary

多 (eumhun 많을 다 (maneul da))

1. Hanja form^? of 다 (“many, a lot of”).

• 다국적 (多國籍, dagukjeok)
• 다구 (多口, dagu)
• 다력 (多力, daryeok)
• 다분 (多分, dabun)
• 다세 (多勢, dase)
• 다부 (多夫, dabu)
• 다처 (多妻, dacheo)
• 다행 (多幸, dahaeng)
• 다사 (多思, dasa)
• 다겁 (多怯, dageop)
• 다수 (多數, dasu)
• 다수결 (多數決, dasugyeol)
• 다양 (多樣, dayang)
• 다복 (多福, dabok)

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Kun: うふさん (ufusan, 多さん)

多: Hán Nôm readings: đa, nhật

1. chữ Hán form of đa (“multi-, poly-”).
2. Nôm form of đi (“to go, to walk”).
3. Nôm form of đa (“banyan”).
4. Nôm form of da (“banyan”).
5. Nôm form of da (“skin”).
6. Nôm form of đưa (“to hand, to give”).