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古靈精怪

简古灵精怪 · 繁古靈精怪

Mandarin · pinyin gǔ líng jīng guài

(idiom) mischievously clever; whimsically quirky

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Characters in this entry

古: gǔ · old, classic, ancient
靈: Look up this written character
精: jīng · essence; semen; spirit
怪: guài · strange, unusual, peculiar
灵: líng · spirit, soul; spiritual world

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–1–4 · gu3 ling2 jing1 guai4

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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.

古靈精怪 · find source passages ↗ · 古灵精怪 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gu2 ling4 zing1 gwaai3

Cantonese word readings for 古靈精怪. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) weird; bizarre

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

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