大大咧咧 (dà da liē liē) — carefree and casual in manner; easygoing but tending to be careless or offhand
Definition
Describes a careless, offhand manner — relaxed but sloppy, often in a negative way. Unlike 潇洒 or 开朗 (admirable ease), it points to a flaw, not a virtue.
adjective
carefree and casual in mannereasygoing but tending to be careless or offhand
Examples
- 大大咧咧，。Tā zhè ge rén xìng gé dà da liē liē, zuò shén me dōu bù zháo jí.He's a carefree person who doesn't get anxious about anything.
- 大大咧咧，。Nǐ zuò shì zhè me dà da liē liē, chí zǎo huì chū má fan de.You're so offhand about things — sooner or later you'll get into trouble.
- 大大咧咧，。Bié kàn xiǎo míng dà da liē liē, tā kǎo shì kě cóng lái méi shī wù guò.Don't let Xiao Ming's casual attitude fool you — he's never made a mistake on exams.
Origin
Reduplicated word构词法gòucífǎ
重叠chóngdiéReduplication
A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.
大 (big) and 咧 (open) are doubled to suggest a broad, open, offhand manner.
Appears in
Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.