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I was listening to a pop song by the Chinese singer 那英. The song is called 天生不完美. I was curious to read the lyrics and so checked them at the following address: https://mojim.com/twy100287x13x7.htm

The lyrics of the song show the string of characters in the question title: 阿ㄘㄟˊ

那英 sings these lyrics although apart from the first character I'm unsure as to what sounds she's actually singing or even if the characters each represent a syllable.

I searched the characters online and can see that this question has also been asked by Mandarin speakers on other Q&A sites but because my reading ability is not advanced enough I don't understand the answers. An example site: https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/1510115037626460660.html

So I was hoping somebody could enlighten me as to whether this phrase is Chinese (from a minority language or written in an alternative script) or if it's imported from another language (Japanese?) and what it actually means.

The theme of the song it appears in seems to be: 'you're searching for perfection but it's human nature to be imperfect'.

Thanks for any help!

2 Answers 2

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It is Amis/Pangcah (阿美族語), the language of one of the Taiwanese aborigines (台灣原住民).

阿ㄘㄟˊ ( ā céi ) means "ridiculous; crazy; unreasonable; nonsense; goofy; outrageous; nuts".

阿ㄘㄟˊ: You are nuts!

Similar phrases include 瘋了, 笨蛋, 不可理喻, 無理取鬧, 無稽之談, 胡說八道......

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It's taiwan pinyin.there is no actual character match the pronunciation of the minority language which the Amis speak.

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