Learn Chinese Characters

Pinyin Syllable

Chinese characters pronounced guai

Learn common Chinese characters pronounced guai, including 怪 guài, 拐 guǎi, 乖 guāi. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words, and example sentences.

How to Pronounce This Syllable

Build guai by sliding from g straight into uai; the tone rides over the joined sound, so treat it as one unit.

Initial g

Start the syllable on the initial g, then run straight into the final uai — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.

Final uai

Settle the final uai into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.

Study Tip

Start with the most common characters (怪 guài, 拐 guǎi, 乖 guāi) and lock in their tones. 3 common characters share the sound guai, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.

Learn by Tone

guai turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.

1st tone

Taking the 1st tone here: 乖 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

3rd tone

Taking the 3rd tone here: 拐 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

4th tone

Taking the 4th tone here: 怪 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

Common Words With This Sound

Seeing guai inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.

Characters

3 common characters in this group.