Chinese word

惊奇

Pronunciation

Pinyinjīng qí

Meaning

  • adjectivesurprised

Example

我对这件事感到惊奇。wǒ duì zhè jiàn shì gǎn dào jīng qí

I am surprised by this.

Illustration for 惊奇 (surprised)

More examples

事实的发展令人惊奇。shì shí de fā zhǎn lìng rén jīng qí

The way the facts developed is surprising.

Core concept

A mind meets something unusual and reacts with startled curiosity.

Common phrases

  • 对...感到惊奇duì gǎn dào jīng qí

    feel surprised by ___

  • 令人惊奇的事实lìng rén jīng qí de shì shí

    fact that causes surprise

  • 令人惊奇的是lìng rén jīng qí de shì

    the surprising thing is

Similar words

惊讶jīng yà: Being deeply surprised by something that was not expected.
吃惊chī jīng: Being suddenly taken by surprise by something that happens without warning.
诧异chà yì: Feeling surprised and puzzled by something that seems hard to understand.
惊愕jīng è: Being struck by extreme surprise and left unable to speak.

Definition in Chinese

对意外、异乎寻常的事物感到惊讶且带有好奇或不解的情绪。duì yì wài yì hū xún cháng de shì wù gǎn dào jīng yà qiě dài yǒu hào qí huò bù jiě de qíng xù

Word origin

The compound 惊 (jīng, "startle") + 奇 (qí, "strange") joins an abrupt emotional response to the sense that something does not fit expectations.

Usage tips

  • In conversation, the person having the feeling is the grammatical subject, while the unusual matter appears separately as its cause; the event itself is not the one having the feeling.

Other meanings

  • be amazedverb
  • surprisenoun

Opposites

Related words

  • 惊奇不已jīng qí bù yǐbe constantly amazedidiom

Word lists with this word