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尴尬 (gān gà) — (of a situation) awkward, embarrassing; (of a person) embarrassed, awkward

Definition

尴尬 focuses on an awkward, charged SITUATION or atmosphere (or the person caught in it), stronger than 难堪's feeling of being hard to bear. It's more social/situational than 害羞 (shy) and lacks 为难's sense of being put in a dilemma by someone else.

adjective
(of a situation) awkwardembarrassing(of a person) embarrassedawkward

Examples

  • ，尴尬。
    Tā zhàn zài tái shàng shuō bù chū huà lái, jué de hěn gān gà.
    He stood on stage unable to speak and felt very embarrassed.
  • 尴尬。
    Zhè shì yí gè hěn gān gà de wèn tí.
    This is a very awkward question.
  • 尴尬。
    Dāng shí de qì fen tè bié gān gà.
    The atmosphere at that time was especially awkward.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

尴gān
尬gà

Only 尴尬 as a whole means awkward; 尴 and 尬 do not carry separate meanings here.

Sound-only characters

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 尷; 尴 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
尢尢wāng
Sound part声符shēngfú
監
監jiān尷
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 尷 uses 尢 for meaning and 監 for sound; the simplified 尴 is a later shorthand.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
尢尢wāng
Sound part声符shēngfú
介
介jiè尬
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

尬 places 介 (jiè) beside 尢 (wāng); 介 gives the sound, and 尢 gives the sense.

Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 6Emotions & Feelings3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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