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奇异 (qí yì) — strange, peculiar, bizarre (of things, phenomena, or events); astonished, astounded (of a person's reaction or expression)

Definition

A literary written adjective: 'bizarre / strange' describes odd things or phenomena; 'astonished' describes a stunned reaction. More formal than 奇怪 and stronger than 惊讶.

adjective
strangepeculiarbizarre (of things, phenomena, or events)astonishedastounded (of a person's reaction or expression)

Examples

  • 奇异。
    Zhè zhǒng huā de xíng zhuàng shí fēn qí yì.
    The shape of this flower is very strange.
  • ，奇异。
    Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, tā gǎn dào fēi cháng qí yì.
    Upon hearing this news, he felt extremely astonished.
  • 奇异。
    Hǎi dǐ yǒu xǔ duō qí yì de shēng wù.
    There are many peculiar creatures on the seabed.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

奇qístrange
异yìdifferent

Both 奇 and 异 convey strangeness or difference, together meaning bizarre.

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
大大dàbig; great
Sound part声符shēngfú
可
可kě奇
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

奇 pairs 大 (big; great) with 可, a sound part.

Open 奇 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 異; 异 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 異 depicts a person with a mask 田 over the face, so the face looks different. The simplified 异 is a later shorthand.

Open 异 →
Appears in
Abstract ConceptsGood & Bad

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