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猜猜 (cāi cāi) — to have a guess (casual reduplicated form of 猜)

Definition

猜猜 is the casual, reduplicated form of 猜 — softer and friendlier, used to invite someone to guess. Common in questions like 你来猜猜? ('why don't you take a guess?').

verb
to have a guess (casual reduplicated form of 猜)

Examples

  • 猜猜？
    Nǐ lái cāi cāi zhè shì shén me?
    Take a guess — what is this?
  • 猜猜。
    Dà jiā yì qǐ cāi cāi dá àn ba.
    Everyone, let's guess the answer together.
  • 猜猜。
    Wǒ cāi cāi tā shì bu shì xué shēng.
    I'll take a guess whether he is a student.

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.

猜cāiguess
猜cāiguess

Repeating 猜 gives a casual, brief sense of guessing.

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
犭Written in full as犬quǎn
Sound part声符shēngfú
青
青qīng猜cāi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

猜 pairs 犭, the dog radical (full form 犬), with 青 as the sound part.

Open 猜 →

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
犭Written in full as犬quǎn
Sound part声符shēngfú
青
青qīng猜cāi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

猜 pairs 犭, the dog radical (full form 犬), with 青 as the sound part.

Open 猜 →
Appears in
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