斬新奇抜
zan.shin.ki.batsu

Literally: behead – new – strange – extract

Alternately: Completely new. Unprecedented. Often used to describe a novel idea or unconventional way of thinking.

Notes: Compare and contrast this compound with prior entry 奇想天外.

It is an error to replace 斬 with its cousin 漸 (zen) “gradual,” or 奇 with homophone 寄, “bring near.”

“Hey, what if we made… a bookshelf that wasn’t very good at holding books!” “How novel!”