Chinese word dictionary

惹草拈花

rě cǎo niān huā · see 拈花惹草[nian1 hua1 re3 cao3]

Practice word

Word information

Simplified惹草拈花

Traditional惹草拈花

Pinyinrě cǎo niān huā

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

惹rě

to incite, to irritate, to offend, to vex

草cǎo

grass, herbs; straw, thatch

拈niān

to pick up with the fingers; to draw lots

花huā

flower, blossom; to spend (time or money)

How to learn 惹草拈花

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

花huā

flower; blossom; CL:朵[duo3],支[zhi1],束[shu4],把[ba3],盆[pen2],簇[cu4]; fancy pattern; florid; to spend (money, time); (coll.) lecherous; lustful; old variant of 花[hua1]; surname Hua; variant of 花[hua1]; flower; blossom; also pr. [wei3]

花huā

花Huā

surname Hua

草cǎo

grass; straw; manuscript; draft (of a document); careless; rough; CL:棵[ke1],撮[zuo3],株[zhu1],根[gen1]; variant of 草[cao3]

草地cǎodì

lawn; meadow; sod; turf; CL:片[pian4]

花园huāyuán

garden (for flowers, ornamental plants etc); (landscaped) park; yard with decorative plants; CL:座[zuo4]