Chinese word

胡闹

Pronunciation

Pinyinhú nào

Meaning

  • verbfool around

Example

别胡闹了！bié hú nào le

Stop fooling around!

Illustration for 胡闹 (fool around)

More examples

孩子们一玩起游戏就胡闹起来，根本停不下来。hái zi men yì wán qǐ yóu xì jiù hú nào qǐ lái gēn běn tíng bú xià lái

As soon as the children start playing games, they start fooling around and cannot stop.

Core concept

Pushes playful or careless behavior past the point of fun, turning it into a disturbance for everyone nearby.

Common phrases

  • 别胡闹了bié hú nào le

    stop fooling around

  • 胡闹起来hú nào qǐ lái

    start fooling around

  • 胡闹得很hú nào de hěn

    fool around a lot

Similar words

打闹dǎ nào: Play roughly by pushing, chasing, or making noise with others.
捣乱dǎo luàn: Deliberately interfere with work or an activity and stop it from going smoothly.
闹事nào shì: Cause trouble in a public place by making a disturbance.
闹着玩儿nào zhe wánr: Do something as a joke or just for fun, without serious intent.

Definition in Chinese

随意做出让人不快或造成混乱的行为，常表现为吵闹或捣乱。suí yì zuò chū ràng rén bú kuài huò zào chéng hùn luàn de xíng wéi cháng biǎo xiàn wèi chǎo nào huò dǎo luàn

Word origin

胡 (hú, "recklessly") + 闹 (nào, "make a disturbance") joins thoughtless action to noisy disruption, which explains the compound's negative sense.

Usage tips

  • The word can describe pranks, but it focuses on the nuisance they create rather than on their cleverness, unlike English expressions that present a prank as harmless fun.

Other meanings

  • play pranksverb
  • make a fussverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word