📖 Meaning
Describes speech or ideas that are bizarre, absurd, and contrary to common sense or reason. The term combines '怪诞' (strange and grotesque) with '不经' (not conforming to accepted norms or classics). It is used to criticize statements or claims that are wildly implausible and fly in the face of rational thought.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces to the Ming dynasty writer Qu You (瞿佑), specifically his collection of supernatural tales 'Jiandeng Xinhua' (剪灯新话, 'New Tales Under the Lamplight'), written in 1378. In the story 'Ting Jing Yuan Ji' (听经猿记, 'The Ape Listening to Sutras'), a character named Lord Wu reads a poem and finds it ingenious but ultimately dismisses it, remarking that although the poem is wondrous, it is '怪诞不经'—bizarre and unreasonable—and therefore refuses to accept it. The expression thus originated as a literary judgment condemning creative work that, however striking, defied orthodox sensibilities. Later writers such as the Qing reformer Yan Fu employed it to critique arguments he found patently absurd.
💡 Example Usage
这篇小说情节怪诞不经，却又令人读得欲罢不能。
The novel's plot is bizarre and unreasonable, yet it keeps the reader irresistibly hooked.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 怪诞不经
- Pinyin: guài dàn bù jīng
- Literal Translation: bizarre, absurd, not, orthodox
- Category: Quality
- Characters: 4