瞎猜 (xiā cāi) — to guess blindly; to make a wild guess | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

瞎猜 (xiā cāi) means guessing without any basis — it stresses the recklessness of the guess, unlike plain 猜, which can be a normal, informed guess.

verb

to guess blindlyto make a wild guess

Examples

瞎猜，。
Bú yào xiā cāi, xiān xiǎng xiǎng zài huí dá.
Don't guess blindly; think before you answer.
瞎猜，。
Nǐ zhǐ shì xiā cāi, dàn jìng rán cāi duì le.
You were just guessing blindly, but you actually got it right.
，瞎猜。
Rú guǒ nǐ bù zhī dào dá àn, jiù zhǐ néng xiā cāi.
If you don't know the answer, you can only guess blindly.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

瞎xiāblindly

瞎 (blindly) describes 猜 (guess), meaning to guess without knowing.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

犭青猜

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.

Appears in

Thinking & Cognition

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