HSK 6 · Adjectives

莫名其妙 mòmíngqímiào “baffling” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 莫名其妙 means

  1. baffling
  2. inexplicable
  3. for no apparent reason
  4. (idiom) baffling
  5. bizarre
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • without rhyme or reason

How to say 莫名其妙

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale莫mò4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale名míng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale其qí2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale妙miào4th tone, falling

莫名其妙 in a sentence

  1. 他莫名其妙地生气了。

    Tā mòmíngqímiào de shēngqì le.

    He got angry for no apparent reason.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 这个问题真让人莫名其妙。

    Zhè ge wèntí zhēn ràng rén mòmíngqímiào.

    This question is completely baffling.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 莫名其妙 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 莫 (mò) with each of its parts in a different colour
莫mòdo not
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎo
  • 旲daylight
The character 名 (míng) with each of its parts in a different colour
名míngname
  • 夕evening · xī
  • 口mouth · kǒu

Memory aidEvening 夕 and a mouth 口: in the dark you call out your name.

The character 其 (qí) with each of its parts in a different colour
其qíhis
  • 甘sweet · gān
  • 一one · yī
  • 八eight · bā

Memory aidDrawn from a winnowing basket. That meaning moved to 箕 (jī), and 其 came to mean “its, that”.

The character 妙 (miào) with each of its parts in a different colour
妙miàoclever
  • 女woman · nǚMeaning part
  • 少few · shǎoSound part

女 hints at the meaning (woman); 少 (shǎo) hints at the sound. Compare it with miào.

How to write 莫名其妙

莫 10 strokes · 名 6 strokes · 其 8 strokes · 妙 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 莫名其妙

Words with 名

名字míngzi · name名míng · name姓名xìngmíng · full name有名yǒumíng · famous名单míngdān · list of names名人míngrén · celebrity报名bàomíng · to sign up著名zhùmíng · famous名片míngpiàn · (business) card名牌míngpái · famous brand

Words with 其

其实qíshí · actually其他qítā · other其次qícì · next其中qízhōng · among尤其yóuqí · especially极其jíqí · extremely其余qíyú · the rest与其yǔqí · rather than (与其 A，不如 B: B rather than A)名副其实míngfùqíshí · worthy of the name

Words with 妙

巧妙qiǎomiào · ingenious美妙měimiào · wonderful奇妙qímiào · wonderful

More words: Adjectives

明智míngzhì · wise敏捷mǐnjié · quick敏锐mǐnruì · sharp迷人mírén · charming耐用nàiyòng · durable难得nándé · rare难能可贵nánnéngkěguì · rare and commendable拿手náshǒu · good at

FAQs

莫名其妙 (mòmíngqímiào) means “baffling” or “inexplicable”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it mòmíngqímiào: mò with a 4th tone, then míng with a 2nd tone, then qí with a 2nd tone, then miào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 莫名其妙 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type momingqimiao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 莫名其妙 from the suggestions. Typing momingqimiao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
莫名其妙 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.