Chinese word

出毛病

Pronunciation

Pinyinchū máo bìng

Meaning

  • verbact up

Example

我的手机又出毛病了。wǒ de shǒu jī yòu chū máo bìng le

My phone is acting up again.

Illustration for 出毛病 (act up)

More examples

昨天下午，家里的电器突然出毛病，暂时不能使用。zuó tiān xià wǔ jiā lǐ de diàn qì tū rán chū máo bìng zàn shí bù néng shǐ yòng

Yesterday afternoon, the household appliances suddenly acted up and could not be used for a while.

Core concept

A person or thing develops a fault that disrupts its usual function or behavior.

Common phrases

  • 电脑出毛病diàn nǎo chū máo bìng

    computer acts up

  • 家电出毛病jiā diàn chū máo bìng

    household appliances act up

  • 电梯出毛病diàn tī chū máo bìng

    elevator acts up

Similar words

出问题chū wèn tí: Develop a problem that makes things fail to go smoothly.
出故障chū gù zhàng: Malfunction or stop working, especially when referring to machinery or equipment.
坏huài: Become broken and unusable.
失灵shī líng: Lose the ability to work or respond as intended.

Definition in Chinese

口语中表示事物或人出现问题、状态变差而不能正常运作的动词短语。kóu yǔ zhōng biǎo shì shì wù huò rén chū xiàn wèn tí zhuàng tài biàn chà ér bù néng zhèng cháng yùn zuò de dòng cí duán yǔ

Word origin

出 (chū, "emerge") + 毛病 (máobìng, "fault") presents a problem as something that appears in a person or thing, giving the phrase its everyday sense of malfunction or trouble.

Usage tips

  • The phrase fits both technical trouble and troublesome human behavior, but the human use can sound critical.

Opposites

  • 运行正常yùn xíng zhèng chángrun normallyverb

Related words

Word lists with this word