English–Chinese
“unexpected” in Chinese
How to say “unexpected” in Chinese
“Unexpected” in Chinese is 意外 (yì wài).
A gap between what is expected and what actually happens, felt as surprise or seen as a mishap.
Example sentences with 意外
他的决定让大家很意外。tā de jué dìng ràng dà jiā hěn yì wài
His decision surprised everyone.
Tips for using 意外
- In everyday conversation, the adjective sense often describes a person's reaction, whereas the noun sense refers to an event, so the surrounding sentence is especially important.
Other Chinese words for “unexpected”
他的成绩出人意料，比想象的好。tā de chéng jì chū rén yì liào bǐ xiǎng xiàng de hǎo
His grades were better than expected.
这个结果太意想不到了。zhè ge jié guǒ tài yì xiǎng bú dào le
This result is so unexpected.
这件事完全在我意料之外。zhè jiàn shì wán quán zài wǒ yì liào zhī wài
This was completely beyond my expectations.