莫名其妙
- Literal
- no one can name its mystery
- Figurative
- Baffling and inexplicable; something so strange that no one can make sense of it. It can also describe someone behaving in a way no one can fathom.
Where does 莫名其妙 come from?
It is not born from a narrated tale but is a set phrase built on 名 ("to name, to put into words") and 妙 ("the subtle, the marvellous"): no one can express how astonishing the matter is. It is attested in the Qing dynasty, in Xuan Ding's 《夜雨秋灯录》 (1877): "on serving the watermelon soup and drinking the orchid-snow tea, it was 莫名其妙," where 妙 still carries its positive sense of "exquisite, indescribably fine." The meaning later broadened to today's very common usage for something baffling or for behaviour no one can explain.
Source (出处): 《夜雨秋灯录》
How is 莫名其妙 used? Two examples
- 他突然对我发脾气，真是莫名其妙。
He suddenly lost his temper at me; it really makes no sense at all.
- 我莫名其妙地收到了一个陌生人寄来的包裹。
Out of nowhere, I received a package sent by a stranger.
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