Kilo Lingo

(shén qí) - magical, miraculous; amazing, uncanny in Mandarin

shén

Traditional: 神奇

#2008 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

magical, miraculous; amazing, uncanny

Word origin

A compound of 神 (shén, god, spirit, supernatural) and 奇 (qí, strange, rare), literally divinely strange.

Origin
compound
Root
神 (shén, spirit, divine) + 奇 (qí, strange, rare)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 神

Stroke order for 奇

Examples

This place really is amazing.

He knows a kind of magic.

The effect of this medicine is remarkable.

Nature is a wonderful thing.

I've never seen anything so extraordinary.

神奇 (shén qí) is admiring wonder. It is what you say about something so good or so unexpected that it feels like magic: a cure that works overnight, a view over a mountain, a trick you cannot explain.

Keep it apart from 奇怪 (qí guài, strange). 奇怪 is neutral to negative and means odd or puzzling; 神奇 is always positive. 他很奇怪 means he is a weirdo, 他很神奇 means he is remarkable.

It takes 很 like any other adjective and needs 的 before a noun: 很神奇, 神奇的力量. Chinese advertising leans on it heavily, which is worth remembering: on a product label, 神奇 usually means the claim is unproven.

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Mandarin · Free printables

神奇: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "神奇" (magical, miraculous; amazing, uncanny): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 41.