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蹩脚 (bié jiǎ) — (stative verb) of poor quality; shoddy; inferior; (stative verb) clumsy; awkward (of skills, performance)

Definition

A strong, dismissive adjective for work or performance that is shoddy or clumsy — 'lousy, pathetic'. Common in spoken criticism, stronger than just 差 ('bad'), and not used for people.

adjective
(stative verb) of poor qualityshoddyinferior(stative verb) clumsyawkward (of skills, performance)

Examples

  • 蹩脚，。
    Zhè piān wén zhāng xiě dé tài bié jiǎ le, hěn duō dì fāng dōu shuō bù tōng.
    This article is so badly written; many parts don't make sense at all.
  • 蹩脚，。
    Tā de zhōng wén fā yīn yǒu diǎn bié jiǎ, bú guò yì si biǎo dá dé hái qīng chǔ.
    His Chinese pronunciation is a bit clumsy, but he still gets the meaning across clearly.
  • 蹩脚，。
    Zhè xiē fǎng zhì pǐn zhì liàng hěn bié jiǎ, yí kàn jiù zhī dào bú shì zhēn huò.
    These imitation goods are of very poor quality; you can tell they're not genuine at a glance.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

蹩biélame; awkward
脚jiǎofoot

蹩 suggests lame or awkward, and 脚 names the foot; together they describe something clumsy or poor in quality.

Characters in this word

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
足足zúfoot
Sound part声符shēngfú
敝
敝bì蹩bié
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

蹩 combines 足, a foot, with 敝, which gives the sound. The foot part shows the meaning is about a foot.

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 腳; 脚 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat, body
Sound part声符shēngfú
卻
卻què腳jiǎo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 腳 uses ⺼ for a body part and 卻 for the sound; the simplified 脚 is a later shorthand.

Open 脚 →
Appears in
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