HSK 6 · Adjectives

别扭 bièniu “awkward” in Chinese

Traditional 彆扭

What 别扭 means

  1. awkward
  2. uncomfortable
  3. difficult to deal with
  4. difficult
  5. not agreeing
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • at loggerheads
  • gauche

How to say 别扭

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale别biè4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own扭niuneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

别扭 in a sentence

  1. 这件衣服穿着很别扭。

    Zhè jiàn yīfu chuān zhe hěn bièniu.

    These clothes feel really awkward to wear.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 他们俩最近在闹别扭。

    Tāmen liǎ zuìjìn zài nào bièniu.

    The two of them have been at odds with each other lately.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 别扭 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 别 (bié) with each of its parts in a different colour
别bièto make sb change their ways
  • 另another · lìng
  • 刂knife form of 刀 · dāo

Memory aidA knife 刂 cutting things apart: to separate. As a command, 别 means “don't”.

The character 扭 (niǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
扭niǔto turnlight in 别扭
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 丑ugly · chǒuSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 丑 (chǒu) hints at the sound. Compare it with niu.

How to write 别扭

别 7 strokes · 扭 7 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

别扭 (bièniu) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 别扭 (bièniu). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 别扭

Words with 别

别bié · don’t别人biéren · other people特别tèbié · special别的biéde · other区别qūbié · difference性别xìngbié · gender分别fēnbié · to part告别gàobié · to say goodbye个别gèbié · individual别墅biéshù · villa

Words with 扭

扭转niǔzhuǎn · to turn around

More words: Adjectives

被动bèidòng · passive笨拙bènzhuō · clumsy扁biǎn · flat便利biànlì · convenient别致biézhì · unique闭塞bìsè · isolated博大精深bódàjīngshēn · broad and profound (of knowledge or culture)薄弱bóruò · weak

FAQs

别扭 (bièniu) means “awkward” or “uncomfortable”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it bièniu: biè with a 4th tone, then niu with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 别扭 is written 彆扭. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bieniu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 别扭 from the suggestions. Typing bieniu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
别扭 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.