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大打出手 (dà dǎ chū shǒu) — to engage in a fierce fight or brawl; (figuratively) to have a violent argument or conflict

Definition

A chengyu meaning to break into a violent brawl or free-for-all, used literally for physical fights and figuratively for heated verbal clashes. Often implies the conflict has escalated from words to blows or near-blows.

verb
to engage in a fierce fight or brawl(figuratively) to have a violent argument or conflict

Examples

  • 大打出手。
    Nà liǎng gè rén yīn wèi yì diǎn xiǎo shì jiù dà dǎ chū shǒu.
    Those two people got into a fight over a small matter.
  • 大打出手，。
    Huì yì shàng shuāng fāng dà dǎ chū shǒu, zhēng lùn dé fēi cháng jī liè.
    The two sides had a fierce argument at the meeting.
  • 大打出手，。
    Diàn yǐng lǐ de dǎ dòu chǎng miàn zhēn shì dà dǎ chū shǒu, fēi cháng jīng cǎi.
    The fight scenes in the movie were a real free-for-all, very exciting.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng打dǎ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

打 uses 扌, a hand, to show an action done with the hand, and 丁 to give the sound.

Open 打 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

出 combines 止 (foot) and 凵 (cave) to show a foot stepping out of a cave.

Open 出 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

手 draws a five-fingered human hand: the top line is a bent middle finger, and the horizontal lines show the other four fingers.

Open 手 →
Appears in
Conflict & AgreementIdioms & Set Phrases

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