DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
乖
Mandarin · pinyin guāi
Meanings
- (of a child) obedient, well-behaved
- clever
- shrewd
- alert
- perverse
- contrary to reason
- irregular
- abnormal
Characters in this entry
- 乖
- guāi · rebel; crafty, shrewd
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
1 · guai1
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link3same-tone records
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.Read this spelling in Classical texts
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.
Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
gwaai1
Cantonese word readings for 乖. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
character
- clever; alert
- (usually of a child or animal) well-behaved; docile; obedient; nice; untroublesome
- (literary, or in compounds) to violate; to rebel
- (literary, or in compounds) to separate; to split
- (literary, or in compounds) to break off; to cut off
- (literary, or in compounds) difference; mistake
- (literary, or in compounds) unnatural; strange
- (Sichuanese, Xiang) beautiful
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack