耸肩 (sǒng jiān) — to shrug one's shoulders | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A concrete verb meaning 'to shrug one's shoulders,' often reduplicated as 耸了耸肩 to indicate a brief, casual gesture. It typically signals 'I don't know' or 'I can't help it.'

verb

to shrug one's shoulders

Examples

，。
Tā sǒng le sǒng jiān, shén me yě méi shuō.
He shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.
，耸肩。
Yù dào zhè zhǒng wèn tí, tā zhǐ shì sǒng jiān biǎo shì méi bàn fǎ.
When faced with this kind of problem, he just shrugged to show he had no way out.
耸肩：“。”
Tā sǒng jiān shuō: "wǒ yě bù qīng chǔ."
She shrugged and said, “I’m not sure either.”

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

肩jiānshoulders

耸 “raise” acts on 肩 “shoulders,” giving the shrug.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 聳; 耸 is its simplified writing.

從耳聳

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

從

從cóng聳sǒng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 聳 pairs 耳 (ear) with 從 (cóng) to give the sound; the simplified 耸 is a later shorthand.

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

肩 combines a shoulder shape with a flesh part to show a shoulder.

Appears in

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