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大同小异

dà tóng xiǎo yì

HSK 3.0 level 7-9 4-character word Traditional 大同小異

大同小异 (dà tóng xiǎo yì) means "virtually the same; differing only on small points". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was not on the old six-level HSK list.

What 大同小异 means

1. virtually the same
2. differing only on small points

The characters in 大同小异

• 大dàbig; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐
• 同tónglike; same; similar
• 小xiǎosmall; tiny; few
• 异yìdifferent; other; hetero-

Example sentences

• 如果你理解这一个,其它的也大同小异。
  Rúguǒ nǐ lǐjiě zhè yī gè, qítā de yě dàtóngxiǎoyì.
  If you understand this one, then the others are nearly the same.
• 幸福家庭的幸福原因全都大同小异，但悲惨的家庭却往往各自有各自的惨法。
  Xìngfú jiātíng de xìngfú yuányīn quán dōu dàtóng-xiǎoyì, dàn bēicǎn de jiātíng què wǎngwǎng gèzì yǒu gèzì de cǎn fǎ.
  All happy families resemble each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Go deeper

• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read dà tóng xiǎo yì correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.