HSK 6 · Adjectives

暧昧 àimèi “ambiguous” in Chinese

Traditional 曖昧

What 暧昧 means

  1. ambiguous
  2. vague
  3. dubious
  4. equivocal

How to say 暧昧

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale暧ài4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale昧mèi4th tone, falling

暧昧 in a sentence

  1. 他们的关系有些暧昧。

    Tāmen de guānxi yǒuxiē àimèi.

    Their relationship is a bit ambiguous.

    Sentence #3054543 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 暧昧 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 暧 (ài) with each of its parts in a different colour
暧àidim
  • 日sun · rìMeaning part
  • 爱to love · àiSound part

日 hints at the meaning (sun); 爱 (ài) hints at the sound. Compare it with ài.

The character 昧 (mèi) with each of its parts in a different colour
昧mèito conceal
  • 日sun · rìMeaning part
  • 未part of the characterSound part

How to write 暧昧

暧 14 strokes · 昧 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 暧昧

Words with 昧

愚昧yúmèi · ignorant

More words: Adjectives

自私zìsī · selfish自由zìyóu · freedom自愿zìyuàn · voluntary综合zōnghé · comprehensive安宁ānníng · peaceful安详ānxiáng · serene凹凸āotū · uneven霸道bàdào · overbearing

FAQs

暧昧 (àimèi) means “ambiguous” or “vague”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it àimèi: ài with a 4th tone, then mèi with a 4th 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, 暧昧 is written 曖昧. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type aimei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 暧昧 from the suggestions. Typing aimei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
暧昧 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.