Chinese symbol for “misbehave”
作怪
zuò guài
(of a ghost) to make strange things happen; to act up; to act behind the scenes; to make mischief
The closest CC-CEDICT match for misbehave is 作怪 (zuò guài), defined as: (of a ghost) to make strange things happen; to act up; to act behind the scenes; to make mischief; odd; to misbehave (euphemism for having sex).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Related words
Other words that share a character with 作怪.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 工作 | gōng zuò | to work; (of a machine) to operate |
| 作为 (作為) | zuò wéi | one's conduct; deed |
| 合作 | hé zuò | to cooperate; to collaborate; to work together |
| 作品 | zuò pǐn | work (of art); opus |
| 作用 | zuò yòng | to act on; to affect; action; function; activity |
| 制作 (製作) | zhì zuò | to make; to manufacture |
| 奇怪 | qí guài | strange; odd |
| 怪物 | guài wu | monster; freak |
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.