捣鬼 (dǎo guǐ) — to play tricks; to cause mischief; to sow disco…

Definition

Verb meaning to secretly play tricks or stir up trouble — usually behind someone's back. Often used in the question 你在捣什么鬼? ('What are you up to?').

verb

to play tricksto cause mischiefto sow discordto gossip maliciously

捣鬼，。
Tā zǒng zài bèi hòu dǎo guǐ, dà jiā dōu bù xǐ huan tā.
He's always playing tricks behind people's backs; nobody likes him.
？！
Nǐ men zài dǎo shén me guǐ? kuài shuō!
What tricks are you up to? Tell me now!
，。
Tā dǎo le yí cì guǐ, jié guǒ bèi fā xiàn le.
He pulled a trick once, and ended up getting caught.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

捣dǎostir up trouble

捣 suggests stirring up trouble, and 鬼 evokes ghostly mischief, together meaning to play tricks or sow discord.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 搗; 捣 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

島

島dǎo搗dǎo

Same sound today

The traditional form 搗 pairs 手 (hand) with 島 as a sound part; the simplified 捣 is a shorthand, so its right side is not the original sound part.

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.

Appears in