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胡扯 (hú chě) — (colloquial) to talk nonsense, to say something untrue or absurd; (colloquial) to chat idly, to shoot the breeze

Definition

胡扯 is a colloquial verb for 'talking nonsense' or 'shooting the breeze' — used when someone is making things up or chatting idly, not having a serious discussion.

verb
(colloquial) to talk nonsense, to say something untrue or absurd(colloquial) to chat idlyto shoot the breeze

Examples

  • ，胡扯。
    Bié tīng tā de, tā zǒng shì zài hú chě.
    Don't listen to him, he's always talking nonsense.
  • 胡扯，。
    Wǒ men jiù shì suí biàn hú chě, méi liáo shén me zhèng jīng shì.
    We were just shooting the breeze, not talking about anything serious.
  • 胡扯，。
    Nǐ yòu zài hú chě le, gēn běn méi yǒu nà huí shì.
    You're talking nonsense again, that never happened.

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.

胡húrecklessly
扯chěto talk

胡 means recklessly or nonsense and 扯 means to talk, so 胡扯 is talking nonsense.

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
⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ胡hú
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

胡 combines 古, which points to its sound, with ⺼ (肉), meaning meat or flesh.

Open 胡 →

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
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
止
止zhǐ扯chě
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

扯 has 手 (hand) and 止; the hand part shows it is about hand actions, while 止 gives the sound.

Open 扯 →
Appears in
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