HSK 6 · Verbs

责怪 zéguài “to blame” in Chinese

Traditional 責怪

What 责怪 means

  1. to blame
  2. to rebuke

How to say 责怪

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale责zé2nd 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

责怪 in a sentence

  1. 她不仅没责怪他，反而称赞他。

    Tā bùjǐn méi zéguài tā, fǎn'ér chēngzàn tā.

    Not only didn’t she blame him, she actually praised him.

    Sentence #2342830 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 为什么要责怪我们？

    Wèishénme yào zéguài wǒmen?

    Why blame us?

    Sentence #13786720 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 他只是责怪别人，从不自责。

    Tā zhǐshì zéguài biéren, cóngbú zìzé.

    He only ever blames others, never himself.

    Sentence #3526185 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 责怪 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 责 (zé) with each of its parts in a different colour
责zéduty
  • 龶part of the character
  • 贝sea shell · bèi
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 责怪

责 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.

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

Words related to 责怪

Words with 责

负责fùzé · to be in charge of责任zérèn · responsibility责备zébèi · to blame指责zhǐzé · to criticise谴责qiǎnzé · to condemn

Words with 怪

奇怪qíguài · strange难怪nánguài · (it’s) no wonder (that…)怪不得guàibude · no wonder!古怪gǔguài · strange

More words: Thinking & Talking

酝酿yùnniàng · to brew预期yùqī · to expect预言yùyán · to predict赞叹zàntàn · to marvel at证实zhèngshí · to confirm斟酌zhēnzhuó · to deliberate致辞zhìcí · to give a speech (formal)指示zhǐshì · to instruct

FAQs

责怪 (zéguài) means “to blame” or “to rebuke”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it zéguài: zé 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.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 责怪 is written 責怪. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zeguai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 责怪 from the suggestions. Typing zeguai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
责怪 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.