作祟

Mandarin · pinyin zuò suì

Meanings

  1. haunted
  2. to haunt
  3. to cause mischief
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Characters in this entry

作
zuò · make; work; compose, write; act, perform
祟
suì · evil spirit; evil influence
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4 · zuo4 sui4

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zok3 seoi6

Cantonese word readings for 作祟. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

  1. (of a ghost or spirit) to haunt
  2. (figurative) to cause trouble; to play tricks; to make mischief

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack