鬼胎 (guǐ tāi) — ulterior motive; sinister design (almost always in 心怀鬼胎)

Definition

Literally 'ghost fetus,' 鬼胎 is a literary, fixed-style noun meaning a hidden sinister motive — almost always used inside the set phrase 心怀鬼胎 ('to harbor ulterior motives'). Don't parse it as a literal creature.

noun
ulterior motivesinister design (almost always in 心怀鬼胎)

Examples

  • 鬼胎，。
    Tā xīn huái guǐ tāi, suǒ yǐ shuō huà shí bù gǎn kàn wǒ de yǎn jing.
    He had ulterior motives, so he didn't dare look me in the eye when he spoke.
  • ，。
    Dà jiā dōu jué de zhè ge rén yǒu guǐ tāi, dàn shuí yě méi zhèng jù.
    Everyone felt that this person had ulterior motives, but no one had proof.
  • 鬼胎，。
    Nà ge shāng rén cáng zhe guǐ tāi, nǐ bì xū xiǎo xīn dī fáng.
    That businessman is hiding ulterior motives; you must be on your guard.

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.

鬼guǐghost
胎tāifetus

The “鬼” ghost and “胎” fetus image a hidden, sinister scheme.

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 →

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
⺼Written in full as肉ròu
Sound part声符shēngfú
台
台tái胎tāi
Same sound today

胎 is formed from ⺼ (written in full as 肉) and 台, which gives the sound.

Open 胎 →

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