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猎奇 (liè jī) — to seek out novelty (often with a morbid or sensationalist curiosity)

Definition

A verb meaning to seek out strange, sensational, or shocking things for the thrill of it — often with a slightly negative or sensationalist flavor. Treats the activity as a habit, not a one-time curiosity.

verb
to seek out novelty (often with a morbid or sensationalist curiosity)

Examples

  • 猎奇。
    Zhè ge wǎng zhàn yǒu hěn duō liè jī shì pín.
    This website has lots of sensationalist novelty videos.
  • 猎奇，。
    Tā xǐ huan liè jī, zǒng zhǎo xiē qí guài de dōng xī kàn.
    He loves seeking out novelty and is always looking for weird stuff to watch.
  • ，。
    Zuó tiān tā liè le yí cì qí, qù kàn le nà ge kǒng bù zhǎn lǎn.
    Yesterday he went on a novelty-seeking trip and saw that horror exhibition.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

猎lièhunt
奇qístrange

猎 suggests hunting or seeking, and 奇 points to the strange, giving the idea of chasing novelty.

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
犬犬quǎndog
Sound part声符shēngfú
昔
昔xī猎liè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 猎, the left part 犬 means dog and the right part 昔 provides the sound.

Open 猎 →

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 →
Appears in
Thinking & Cognition

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