出人意料

chū rén yì liào

unexpected; surprising

Character by character

出chū
exceed

人rén
people’s

意yì
expectation

料liào
reckoning

比赛结果出人意料，去年的冠军第一轮就输了。

The result was a surprise: last year’s champion lost in the first round.

Tone: neutral.

Works as a predicate (结果出人意料), before 的 (出人意料的是…) or as an adverbial (出人意料地). Close to 出乎意料; for good or bad surprises alike.

Learn this in Lesson 125 · HSK 7–9: 哈尔滨头骨之谜 (Interview: the Harbin skull)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.