裝神弄鬼

简 装神弄鬼 · 繁 裝神弄鬼
Mandarin · pinyin zhuāng shén nòng guǐ

Meanings

  1. (lit.) to pretend to be in contact with supernatural beings (idiom); (fig.) to create a false sense of mystery; to play tricks to deceive or scare others; to engage in hocus-pocus
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Characters in this entry

裝
Look up this written character
神
shén · spirit, god, supernatural being
弄
nòng · do, play or fiddle with; alley
鬼
guǐ · ghost; spirit of dead; devil; Kangxi radical 194; 23rd lunar mansion, determinative star θ Cancri
装
zhuāng · dress, clothes, attire; fill
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–3 · zhuang1 shen2 nong4 gui3

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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.

裝神弄鬼 · find source passages ↗ · 装神弄鬼 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zong1 san4 lung6 gwai2

Cantonese word readings for 裝神弄鬼. 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.

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) to dress up as ghosts and spirits (to deceive people)
  2. (figuratively) to deliberately mystify

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

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

裝神弄鬼 · zhuang1 shen2 nong4 gui3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 98,975
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record裝神弄鬼 装神弄鬼 [zhuang1 shen2 nong4 gui3] /(lit.) to pretend to be in contact with supernatural beings (idiom); (fig.) to create a false sense of mystery; to play tricks to deceive or scare others; to engage in hocus-pocus/