奇きをてらう

き

を

て

ら

う

Meanings

1

expression, godan verb (-u)

show off one's originality; act eccentric for attention

Describes deliberately behaving in an unusual or quirky way to stand out, often with a negative connotation of being affected or attention-seeking.

彼かれの作さく品ひんは奇きをてらいすぎていて、共きょう感かんしにくい。
His work tries too hard to be original, making it hard to relate to.
奇きをてらった発はつ言げん

ばかり

し

て

いる

と

、

周まわ

り

から

浮う

い

て

しまう

よ

。

If you keep making eccentric remarks just to stand out, you'll end up alienating everyone.

Written forms

奇きをてらう
Standard spelling using kana for てらう; the kanji 衒 is rare and may not be recognized by many readers.
奇きを衒てらう
Uses the uncommon kanji 衒; found in some literary or older texts but not recommended for general use.

Kanji

奇strange, strangeness, curiosity
衒show off, display, pretend

Similar words

目め立だつ
目立つ simply means 'to stand out' or 'be conspicuous,' without the nuance of deliberate, affected eccentricity that 奇をてらう carries.
変かわっている
変わっている describes someone or something as 'strange' or 'unusual' as a state, whereas 奇をてらう is an intentional action to appear unusual.

Etymology

The phrase combines 奇 (ki, 'strangeness' or 'unusualness') with 衒う (terau, 'to show off' or 'to make a display of'). The kanji 衒 is rare, and the verb is now commonly written in kana. The exact historical origin is uncertain, but it has been used since at least the Edo period to criticize affected eccentricity.