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滑稽 (huá jī) — comical, funny, amusing

Definition

Comical in a clownish, exaggerated way — describing absurd behavior or performance, as in stand-up or slapstick. Stronger and more 'laugh-at' than 有趣 ('interesting') or 幽默 ('subtly witty').

adjective
comicalfunnyamusing

Examples

  • 滑稽，。
    Tā jiǎng le yí gè huá jī de gù shi, dà jiā dōu xiào le.
    He told a funny story, and everyone laughed.
  • 滑稽。
    Zhè ge xiǎo chǒu de dòng zuò fēi cháng huá jī.
    This clown's movements are extremely comical.
  • 滑稽。
    Tā gù yì zuò chū yí fù huá jī de biǎo qíng dòu hái zi kāi xīn.
    She deliberately made a comical expression to amuse the child.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

滑huá
稽jī

The characters 滑 and 稽 carry no meaning of their own here; together they mean comical.

Sound-only characters

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
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
骨
骨gǔ滑huá
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

滑 pairs 水 (water) with 骨, which gives the sound.

Open 滑 →

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
頁頁yèperson's head
Sound part声符shēngfú
旨
旨zhǐ稽jī
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

稽 keeps 旨 for the sound; its original form used 頁, a person's head, for the meaning.

Open 稽 →
Appears in
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