神出鬼没

Traditional (Taiwan): 神出鬼沒

shénchūguǐmò ㄕㄣˊ ㄔㄨ ㄍㄨㄟˇ ㄇㄛˋ

    • to appear and disappear unpredictably like a spirit or a ghost (idiom)

      lit.

    • elusive

      fig.

Character by character

Synonyms and antonyms

Synonyms 近义词

Telling them apart

神出鬼没 means being baffling and hard to pin down, and is usually said of people. 出没无常 means appearing and vanishing without pattern, and is typically said of wild animals or bandits.

Sources