Dictionary › 乖

乖

guāi

Old HSK 5 HSK 3.0 character level 7-9 Character

乖 (guāi) means "(of a child) obedient, well-behaved; clever; shrewd". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was HSK 5 in the old six-level list.

What 乖 means

1. (of a child) obedient, well-behaved
2. clever
3. shrewd
4. alert
5. perverse
6. contrary to reason
7. irregular
8. abnormal

Example sentences

• 乖！
  Behave!
• 乖。
  Behave.
• 你今天乖吗？
  Did you behave today?
• 你一旦不做个乖孩子，圣诞老人就不会来噢。
  Nǐ yīdàn bù zuò ge guāi háizi, Shèngdàn Lǎorén jiù bù huì lái o.
  If you don't behave, Santa won't come.

Words starting with 乖

• 乖乖guāi guāi(of a child) well-behaved; obediently; (term of endearment for a child) darling
• 乖巧guāi qiǎoclever (child); smart; lovable
• 乖张guāi zhāngrecalcitrant; unreasonable; peevish
• 乖离guāi líto part; to separate; to deviate
• 乖觉guāi juéperceptive; alert; clever
• 乖顺guāi shùnobedient (colloquial)
• 乖乖女guāi guāi nǚwell-behaved girl; good girl
• 乖乖牌guāi guāi páigood little boy (or girl)
• 乖谬guāi miùridiculous; abnormal
• 乖僻guāi pìpeculiar; eccentric
• 乖戾guāi lìperverse (behavior); disagreeable (character)
• 乖忤guāi wǔstubborn; contrary; disobedient
• 乖迕guāi wǔstubborn; contrary; disobedient

Words containing 乖

• 卖乖mài guāito show off one's cleverness; (of sb who has received beneficial treatment) to profess to…
• 嘴乖zuǐ guāi(colloquial) to speak in a clever and lovable way
• 学乖xué guāito learn one's lesson the hard way
• 讨好卖乖tǎo hǎo mài guāito curry favor by showing obeisance (idiom)
• 得便宜卖乖dé pián yi mài guāito have benefited from sth but pretend otherwise; to claim to be hard done by, even…
• 撒娇卖乖sā jiāo mài guāito behave ingratiatingly
• 时乖命蹇shí guāi mìng jiǎnbad times, adverse fate (idiom)
• 上一次当，学一次乖shàng yī cì dàng , xué yī cì guāito take sth as a lesson for next time (idiom); once bitten, twice shy

Characters that look like 乖

Easy to confuse on sight. Compare them side by side once and the pair stops costing you.

• 耶yē(phonetic ye)
• 绑bǎngto tie; bind or fasten together; to kidnap
• 沸fèito boil
• 拂fúto flick; to brush off; (of a breeze) to brush lightly over
• 俐lìused in 伶俐
• 骅huáchestnut horse

Sounds the same

Read guāi, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 掴to slap; also pr. guó

Where 乖 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of Personal Qualities & Character (HSK 5), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 5 word, with the rest of its level.
• How characters are built from components.
• How to learn Chinese characters.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read guāi correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.