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身不由己 (shēn bù yóu jǐ) — unable to act on one's own; involuntarily; not of one's own volition

Definition

Means 'unable to act on one's own' — forced by circumstances, not by sudden emotion. Unlike 不由自主 and 情不自禁 (involuntary feelings/reactions), here the cause is external pressure or situation.

phrase
unable to act on one's owninvoluntarilynot of one's own volition

Examples

  • ，身不由己。
    Zài nà zhǒng huán jìng xià, tā shēn bù yóu jǐ dì dā ying le duì fāng de yāo qiú.
    In that kind of environment, he agreed to the other party's demands involuntarily.
  • ，身不由己。
    Gōng zuò yā lì tài dà, tā cháng cháng gǎn dào shēn bù yóu jǐ.
    The work pressure is too great; he often feels he has no freedom to act independently.
  • ，身不由己。
    Tā kàn dào nà zhāng jiù zhào piàn, shēn bù yóu jǐ dì liú xià le yǎn lèi.
    When she saw that old photo, tears fell involuntarily.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 身 comes from a drawing of a pregnant woman.

Open 身 →

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

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

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

It began as a drawing of new shoots or leaves growing upward from a plant-like base.

Open 由 →

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

The 己 shape is a picture of a silk rope used to bind objects.

Open 己 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Abstract ConceptsIdioms & Set Phrases

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