竟是

jìngshì
adverb #31,981

Meanings

  1. 1 actually is (to one's surprise)
  2. 2 turns out to be
  3. 3 of all things, is

Examples

Xiōngshǒu jìngshì tā zuì hǎo de péngyǒu.
The murderer turned out to be his best friend, of all people.
Wǒ méi xiǎngdào zhè běn shū jìngshì tā xiě de.
I never thought this book was actually written by her.

Tips

grammar
竟是 = adverb ('unexpectedly, against expectation') + copula ('is/be'). It marks the surprise revelation of an identity: 'X turns out to be Y, contrary to what one would expect'. Equivalent to 居然 (jūrán shì) but slightly more literary. Compare 竟然 (jìngrán) which works with any verb, while 竟是 is specifically the copula version.
mistakes
Don't confuse 竟是 with 就是 (jiùshì, 'precisely is') — they look similar but 竟是 carries a strong 'surprise!' flavor while 就是 is neutral identification.

Stroke Order

jìng
shì