甩手 (shuǎi shǒu) — to swing one's arms; (figurative) to wash one's hands of; to refuse to take responsibility

Definition

Literally 'swing one's arms', but 甩手 also means to shirk responsibility — to wash one's hands of a task. Often used in 甩手不管 ('refuse to take responsibility and walk away').

verb
to swing one's arms(figurative) to wash one's hands ofto refuse to take responsibility

Examples

  • ，。
    Tā shuǎi le yí xià shǒu, biǎo shì bù tóng yì.
    He swung his arms once to show disagreement.
  • 甩手。
    Zhè jiàn shì nǐ bù néng shuǎi shǒu bù guǎn.
    You can't wash your hands of this matter.
  • 甩手，。
    Tā shuǎi le shuǎi shǒu, zhuǎn shēn zǒu le.
    He swung his arms a few times and turned away.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

甩shuǎiswing
手shǒuhand

甩 means swing or flick and 手 means hand, so literally swing the hands, figuratively wash one's hands of something.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 甩 →

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 →

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