Definition
碴儿 (chár) is a colloquial noun with two main senses: (1) small broken fragments or chips, especially of glass, porcelain, or stone — think of the sharp pieces left after something shatters; (2) a grudge or the cause of a quarrel, as in 找碴儿 ('to pick a fight' or 'to find fault'). The second sense is very common in everyday speech and often appears in set phrases. Note the retroflex suffix -儿 is part of the standard pronunciation in Beijing Mandarin; the pinyin is chár, not chā.
n.
broken piecesfragmentssplinters (of glass, china, stone)grudgethe cause of a quarrelfault to pick on
Examples
- 碴儿，。Xiǎoxīn dìshàng de bōli chā, bié huáshāng le jiǎo.Be careful of the glass shards on the floor — don't cut your feet.
- 碴儿，。Tā zǒng ài zhǎo biérén de chā, méi rén xǐhuan gēn tā yìqǐ gōngzuò.He always likes to pick on others' faults — nobody likes working with him.
- 碴儿，。Zhè liǎng ge rén zhījiān yǒu jiù chā, jiànmiàn jiù chǎojià.There's an old grudge between these two — they argue whenever they meet.
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