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死胡同 (sǐ hú tòng) — blind alley; dead-end street; (figurative) dead end; impasse; hopeless situation

Definition

Literal 'dead end' for a street or path with no exit. The figurative sense ('hopeless situation, impasse') maps closely to the English idiom 'dead end'.

noun
blind alleydead-end street(figurative) dead endimpassehopeless situation
Measure word · 条

Examples

  • 死胡同，。
    Zhè tiáo lù shì gè sǐ hú tòng, kāi bú jìn qù.
    This road is a dead end — you can't drive in.
  • ，死胡同。
    Zài zhè yàng xià qù, wǒ men de xiàng mù huì zǒu jìn sǐ hú tòng.
    If we keep going like this, our project will hit a dead end.
  • 死胡同。
    Tā jué de zì jǐ de rén shēng yǐ jīng zǒu jìn le sǐ hú tòng.
    He feels his life has reached a dead end.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

死sǐdead
胡同alley
胡hú同tóng

死 means dead, and 胡同 is an alley, so 死胡同 is an alley with no exit.

Characters in this word

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
歹歹dǎi
Sound part声符shēngfú
尸
尸shī死sǐ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

死 is built from 歹 and 尸: 歹 is the part tied to the meaning, and 尸 gives the sound.

Open 死 →

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
⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ胡hú
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

胡 combines 古, which points to its sound, with ⺼ (肉), meaning meat or flesh.

Open 胡 →

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

同 originally drew a pipe. It is the old form of 筒.

Open 同 →
Appears in
Abstract ConceptsCity & Urban

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