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乖乖

Mandarin · pinyin guāi guāi#

(of a child) well-behaved
obediently
(term of endearment for a child) darling
sweetie

Mandarin · pinyin guāi guai#

goodness gracious!
oh my lord!

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乖: guāi · rebel; crafty, shrewd

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–1 · guai1 guai1

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gwaai1 gwaai1

Cantonese word readings for 乖乖. 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.

noun

(said to a child) little dear; darling

adj

well-behaved; obedient

intj

good gracious

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

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