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差劲 (chà jìn) — disappointing, no good; (colloquial) lacking strength, vitality, or character

Definition

Colloquial, blunt 'lousy, terrible' — describes people or things that fall well short of expectations. Stronger and more casual than 糟糕, which leans 'messy/bad'.

adjective
disappointingno good(colloquial) lacking strengthvitalityor character

Examples

  • 差劲，。
    Zhè bù diàn yǐng zhēn chà jìn, wǒ kàn le shí fēn zhōng jiù zǒu le.
    This movie was really disappointing; I left after ten minutes.
  • 差劲，。
    Tā zhè ge rén tài chà jìn le, yì diǎn zé rèn gǎn dōu méi yǒu.
    He's such a disappointing person; he has no sense of responsibility.
  • 差劲，。
    Nǐ men qiú duì jīn tiān de biǎo xiàn tài chà jìn le, shū dé zhè me cǎn.
    Your team's performance today was really poor — you lost so badly.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

差chàlack
劲jìnstrength

差 here means 'lack' and 劲 means 'strength', giving the sense of lacking strength.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 來來láiwheat
  • 𠂇𠂇𠂇left hand

差 pairs 來 (wheat) with 𠂇 (left hand), showing wheat rubbed in a hand to remove its hull.

Open 差 →

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 勁; 劲 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
力力lìstrength
Sound part声符shēngfú
巠
巠jīng勁jìn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 勁 pairs 力, meaning strength, with 巠, which gives the sound; the simplified 劲 is a shorthand and its parts are not the original ones.

Open 劲 →
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