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鬼祟 (guǐ suì) — stealthy; furtive; sneaky; (archaic) misfortune or calamity brought by evil spirits

Definition

Literary adjective meaning 'sneaky, furtive' — behavior done in hiding to avoid being noticed. The second sense, 'calamity from evil spirits', is archaic and rarely used today.

adjective
stealthyfurtivesneaky(archaic) misfortune or calamity brought by evil spirits

Examples

  • ，鬼祟。
    Tā shuō huà shí yǎn shén duǒ shǎn, xiǎn de shí fēn guǐ suì.
    His eyes darted away when he spoke, making him look very furtive.
  • 鬼祟。
    Nà ge guǐ suì de shēn yǐng zài qiáng jiǎo yì shǎn jiù bú jiàn le.
    That sneaky figure flashed around the corner and disappeared.
  • 鬼祟。
    Gǔ rén rèn wéi chù fàn shén líng huì zhāo lái guǐ suì.
    Ancient people believed that offending the gods would bring misfortune from spirits.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

鬼guǐghost
祟suìevil spirit

鬼 and 祟 both evoke spirits, so 鬼祟 suggests sneaky, furtive behavior.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

鬼 originally drew a kneeling figure with an ugly face, perhaps a mask; the small lower right dot is a later added tail.

Open 鬼 →

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

The older form of 祟 used 木 (wood) and 示 (altar), showing wood burned to consult the gods. In the modern character, that wood part is written as 出.

Appears in
Personality & Traits

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