Category: Chinese Conversation

In the Chinese language, many phrases sometimes can’t be interpreted literally because they may have quite opposite meanings.  "奇(qí)" originally means “rare,” and "葩(pā)" means flower or flora. When the two characters are put together, we can easily see that the literally meaning of "奇葩(qí pā)" is “precious and beautiful flower.” But in our daily conversation, its usage usually confuses beginners.

              xiǎo zhāng  zhēn kě wèi  shì  yī gè  “qí pā ”
Xiao Lin：小张 真可谓 是 一个 “奇葩”。
                Xiao Zhang is really a “qi pa”.