乖张 (guāi zhāng) — eccentric and unreasonable; perverse in disposition

Definition

A literary, pejorative adjective for someone whose behavior or temperament is odd, contrary, and unreasonable. Stronger and more formal than 古怪, with a sharper edge of being 'against the grain.'

adjective
eccentric and unreasonableperverse in disposition

Examples

  • 乖张，。
    Tā zhè ge rén xìng gé guāi zhāng, hěn nán gēn rén xiāng chǔ.
    He has an eccentric and unreasonable personality — very hard to get along with.
  • 乖张。
    Wén zhāng pī píng le nà xiē xíng wéi guāi zhāng de guān yuán.
    The article criticized those officials whose behavior was perverse.
  • 乖张，。
    Tā de yán yǔ suī rán guāi zhāng, dàn bìng fēi è yì.
    Her words were eccentric and unreasonable, but not malicious.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

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

乖guāiperverse
张zhāngunruly

乖 gives perverse, 张 gives unruly, together they describe eccentric behavior.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 乖 →

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 張; 张 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
弓弓gōngbow
Sound part声符shēngfú
長
長cháng張zhāng
Same sound today

The traditional form 張 combines 弓, a bow, with 長, which points to the sound; the simplified 张 is a shorthand and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 张 →

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