HSK 3 · Adjectives

奇怪 qíguài “strange” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 奇怪 means

  1. strange
  2. odd
  3. to marvel
  4. to be baffled

How to say 奇怪

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale奇qí2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale怪guài4th tone, falling

奇怪 in a sentence

  1. 我做了一个奇怪的梦。

    Wǒ zuò le yí ge qíguài de mèng.

    I had a strange dream.

    Sentence #1372552 from Tatoeba

  2. 他这么说很奇怪。

    Tā zhème shuō hěn qíguài.

    It’s strange that he would say that.

    Sentence #333220 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 动物园里有很多奇怪的动物。

    Dòngwùyuán lǐ yǒu hěn duō qíguài de dòngwù.

    There are lots of strange animals at the zoo.

    Sentence #2482672 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 奇怪 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 奇 (qí) with each of its parts in a different colour
奇qístrange
  • 大big · dà
  • 可may · kě
The character 怪 (guài) with each of its parts in a different colour
怪guàiodd; strange; uncanny
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīn
  • 圣holy · kū

How to write 奇怪

奇 8 strokes · 怪 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 奇怪

Words with 奇

好奇hàoqí · inquisitive奇迹qíjì · miracle奇妙qímiào · wonderful神奇shénqí · magical惊奇jīngqí · surprised

Words with 怪

难怪nánguài · (it’s) no wonder (that…)怪不得guàibude · no wonder!责怪zéguài · to blame古怪gǔguài · strange

More words: Adjectives

满意mǎnyì · satisfied难nán · difficult年轻niánqīng · young胖pàng · fat清楚qīngchu · clear热情rèqíng · cordial容易róngyì · easy瘦shòu · thin

FAQs

奇怪 (qíguài) means “strange” or “odd”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it qíguài: qí with a 2nd tone, then guài with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 奇怪 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qiguai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 奇怪 from the suggestions. Typing qiguai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
奇怪 is an HSK 3 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.