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扭扭捏捏

Mandarin · pinyin niǔ niǔ niē niē

affecting shyness or embarrassment
coy
mincing (walk, manner of speech)
mannered

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Characters in this entry

扭: niǔ · turn, twist, wrench; seize, grasp
捏: niē · pick with fingers; knead; mold

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–1–1 · niu3 niu3 nie1 nie1

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

nau2 nau2 nip6 nip6

Cantonese word readings for 扭扭捏捏. 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

to pretend to be shy, coy or embarrassed
to mince (when walking, talking, etc)

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

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