扭扭捏捏
niǔ niǔ niē niē · affecting shyness or embarrassment; coy; mincing (walk, manner of speech)
Character breakdown
Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.
How to learn 扭扭捏捏
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.
Words with the same characters
Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.
to turn; to twist; to wring; to sprain; to swing one's hips
别扭bièniuawkward; difficult; uncomfortable; not agreeing; at loggerheads; gauche
捏niēto hold between the thumb and fingers; to pinch; to mold (using the fingers); to hold (lit. in one's hand and fig.); to join together; to fabricate (a story, a report, etc); variant of 捏[nie1]
扭曲niǔqūto twist; to warp; to distort
扭头niǔtóuto turn one's head; to turn around
扭转niǔzhuǎnto reverse; to turn around (an undesirable situation); (mechanics) torsion