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啼笑皆非

tai4 siu3 gaai1 fei1

ti2 xiao4 jie1 fei1

not know whether to laugh or cry; find sth both funny and annoying; be in an awkward situation
[lit] between laughter and tears

Cantonese: 唔知好嬲定係好笑

Level: 3 Google Frequency: 586,000

This term is used in both Cantonese and Mandarin/Standard written Chinese.

啼笑皆非

This word was added by sheik on 14th Jul 2004 and last edited on 30th Oct 2008

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啼 tai4 ti2 xin1 - to cry (especially birds)
笑 siu3 xiao4 - smile, laugh, grin
皆 gaai1 jie1 ji1 - all; every; entire
非 fei1 fai1 fei2 fei1 fei3 fei4 - not; negative; wrong

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Decimal representation of this word: 啼笑皆非

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