DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

怪腔怪調

简怪腔怪调 · 繁怪腔怪調

Mandarin · pinyin guài qiāng guài diào

(idiom) strange accent; odd manner of speaking or singing

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

怪: guài · strange, unusual, peculiar
腔: qiāng · chest cavity; hollow in body
調: Look up this written character
调: diào · transfer, move, change; tune

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–1–4–4 · guai4 qiang1 guai4 diao4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

3character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

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.

怪腔怪調 · find source passages ↗ · 怪腔怪调 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗