Explanation：鬼

 

鬼

The word 鬼 is also a 部首(radical). It means ghost, the spirit of a dead person.

This word is also used to describe a person with a bad habit or vice, such as:  酒鬼 Alcoholic, 賭鬼 Gambler, and 小氣鬼 Cheapskate.

If someone is playing dirty tricks on you, or thwarting a plan, you can say: 

• 他在搞鬼。He is Playing dirty tricks.
• 這件事一定有人在搞鬼。Someone definitely pulls the strings in this matter.

Sometimes we use 鬼 to describe bad things, like: 什麼鬼天氣 It's terrible weather. Or to scold someone for not attending to their proper business or duties. 

• 他整天鬼混不工作。He's been goofing off all day and hasn't done any work.

Next, let's look at the words that can be combined with "鬼" to form 字 and 詞.

字 and 詞

魑魅魍魎 refers to a group of evil spirits or demons in Chinese mythology, often used to describe various kinds of evil or wicked people. But because it's hard to write and a little hard to pronounce, you can use 妖魔鬼怪 instead.

網路上有很多批評你的言論。  There are many comments criticizing you on the Internet.

魑魅魍魎，我才不在乎。I don't care about those evil people.

傀儡 means puppet or figurehead, and can also be replaced by 木偶.

他只是個傀儡，所有的決定都是在幕後的人做的。

He's just a puppet, all decisions are made by the people behind the scenes.

鬼鬼祟祟 means that people's behavior was furtive or that they did things in a sneaky way.

他的行動鬼鬼祟祟的，我覺得很可疑。

His behavior was furtive. I felt suspicious.

鬼子 is a derogatory word, and it is actually a very new word. We know that 鬼 is the spirit of a dead person. So when you call people 鬼子, you are saying that they are not human beings. There is no place for them in this world. 

There is an interesting slang: "有錢能使鬼推磨" Money can make the ghost push the millstone.

It means if you pay enough, you can even make ghosts do work for you.

有錢能使鬼推磨，再難的事都可以用錢搞定。

Money talks, no matter how difficult things are, you can use the money to solve them.