尴尬

• 拼音: gān gà
• 汉字拆解: 尴 = 尢 + 监 (awkward — phonosemantic); 尬 = 尢 + 介 (awkward — both characters are rare standalone)

含义

Awkward; embarrassing; uncomfortable. Describes a feeling of social discomfort or an awkward interpersonal situation.

One of the most commonly used informal-to-neutral terms in modern Chinese. Can describe a person's emotion (感到尴尬 — feel awkward), a situation (尴尬的局面 — an awkward situation), or a predicament (处境尴尬 — in a difficult position). Widely used in internet language.

例句

1. 他在众目睽睽之下说错了主持人的名字，现场气氛顿时变得十分尴尬，沉默了好几秒钟。
2. 两人在走廊相遇后沉默片刻，都不知如何开口打破这令人窒息的尴尬僵局。
3. 这件事让她陷入了一种极为尴尬的处境——无论做出哪种选择，都难以同时兼顾各方利益。

用法指南

语境: everyday, social, internet

语气: light

正确说法

• 会议上他不小心把水杯碰翻溅湿了文件，场面一时颇为尴尬，但大家随即笑着帮忙处理了。(At the meeting he accidentally knocked over his water glass and wet the documents — the moment was quite awkward, but everyone quickly laughed it off and helped clean up.)
• 当被问到个人薪资状况时，他微微停顿了一下，笑着说这个问题实在有些尴尬，不便作答。(When asked about his personal salary, he paused briefly and said with a smile that the question was rather awkward and he preferred not to answer.)

错误说法

• 这道数学题很尴尬 — 尴尬 describes social or interpersonal discomfort, not intellectual difficulty; use 难 or 棘手 for a difficult problem

起源与历史

尴尬 = disyllabic set word; both characters rarely appear independently in modern Chinese

文化背景

世代: All ages

社会背景: Universal