匪夷所思
fěi yí suǒ sī
beyond belief; bizarre
Character by character
匪fěi
not
not
夷yí
ordinary
ordinary
所suǒ
what
what
思sī
one thinks
one thinks
Example
这部剧的情节简直匪夷所思：女主角上午还在送外卖，下午就成了集团董事长。
The plot of this drama is simply beyond belief: in the morning the heroine is delivering takeaways, and by the afternoon she is chairman of a conglomerate.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
From the 《周易》: 匪 means 非 and 夷 means “ordinary”, so the phrase means “not something an ordinary person would think of”. Used of plots, behaviour and events too strange to make sense of, usually with astonishment or criticism: 简直匪夷所思, 匪夷所思的做法.
Learn this in Lesson 65 · HSK 6: 网文与短剧 (Web novels and micro-dramas)
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.
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