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玄妙

xuánmiào
adjective #33,531

Meanings

  1. 1 mysterious
  2. 2 profound
  3. 3 abstruse
  4. 4 subtle and hard to grasp

Examples

道家的思想十分玄妙。
Dàojiā de sīxiǎng shífēn xuánmiào.
Daoist thought is deeply abstruse.
这其中的玄妙之处不可言传。
Zhè qízhōng de xuánmiào zhī chù bùkě yánchuán.
The subtleties within cannot be put into words.
他对武功的理解非常玄妙。
Tā duì wǔgōng de lǐjiě fēicháng xuánmiào.
His understanding of martial arts is profoundly subtle.

Tips

history
玄妙 traces directly to 《道德经》 (the Dao De Jing) — chapter 1 reads 玄之又玄，众妙之门 ('mystery upon mystery, the gateway to all subtleties'). Daoist and Buddhist commentators later fused the two characters into 玄妙 to name the deepest layer of metaphysical truth. The flavor of 'unspeakable depth' is still attached to the word today.
usage
In modern Chinese, 玄妙 is often slightly tongue-in-cheek when used about everyday things — calling something 玄妙 can hint that it sounds impressive but you don't quite buy it. In sincere philosophical or martial-arts contexts, it remains a high-register compliment.

Stroke Order

玄 xuán
妙 miào