跩

zhuǎi
verb #33,486

Meanings

  1. 1 to waddle
  2. 2 to swagger
  3. 3 to be cocky / full of oneself
  4. 4 self-satisfied, smug, putting on airs

Examples

HSK 4
Tā dé le jiǎng zhīhòu biàn de hěn zhuǎi.
He got cocky after winning the prize.
HSK 5
Yāzi zài yuànzi lǐ zhuǎi lái zhuǎi qù.
The duck waddles back and forth in the yard.

Tips

register
Two related uses. Literal: walking in a side-to-side rolling motion (a duck, an overweight person, someone with sore feet). Slang/colloquial - common in Taiwan and northern Mainland: 'cocky, putting on airs' - the metaphorical leap is from 'puffed-up swagger walk' to 'attitude'. 'Very 跩' (很跩) is the typical adjective form.
memory
Foot radical 足 + 拽 (zhuài, drag) on the right. The foot radical signals 'walking action'; the right side hints at the labored, dragging quality of the walk.

Components

radical
足 zú
foot (radical form)
Left-side foot radical, the side-form of 足 - knee over ankle, drawn in seven strokes. It carries the walking meaning of 跩, which is to waddle or strut. Same family: 跑 (run), 跳 (jump), 踢 (kick), 跟 (heel). The radical anchors the swagger imagery.
phonetic
另 lìng
another (here phonetic loan)
Right side 另 - written as 口 over 力, depicting separation or alternativeness. Here it stands in as a phonetic-graphic loan for zhuǎi; the reading is not predictable from 另 alone, and 跩 is largely a regional colloquial coinage. The split visual hints at the rocking, side-to-side waddle.

No stroke data for 跩; the glyph shown is your device font, so component strokes can't be highlighted.

Stroke Order

跩 zhuǎi