adverb #8,903

Meanings

  1. 1 how could; how can (rhetorical)
  2. 2 could it be that; is it possible that

Examples

Qǐ yǒu cǐ lǐ!
How absurd! / How outrageous!
Zhè qǐ bú shì zìxiāng máodùn ma?
Isn't this contradicting oneself?
Wǒ qǐ néng xiùshǒu pángguān?
How could I just stand by and watch?

Tips

register
is literary and formal. In everyday speech, people use 怎么 (zěnme néng) or 难道 (nándào) instead. You'll encounter in written Chinese, news, speeches, and set phrases like 岂有此理.
grammar
forms rhetorical questions expecting a negative answer: (how could one), 不是 (isn't it), (how could there be). The pattern 不是... is very common.

Stroke Order