伸腿 (shēn tuǐ) — to stretch one's legs; (slang) to kick the buck… | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literally 'stretch one's legs': the plain literal sense is to extend or stretch out your legs. As slang it can mean 'to die' (kicking the bucket), and figuratively 'to meddle or insert oneself' into a situation.

verb

to stretch one's legs(slang) to kick the bucketto dieto insinuate oneself into meddle

Examples

，。
Tā shēn le yí xià tuǐ, xiū xi le yí huì r.
He stretched his legs for a while and rested.
伸腿。
Qǐng bú yào zài guò dào shàng shēn tuǐ.
Please don't stretch your legs in the aisle.
伸腿。
Tā zǒng xiǎng zài zhè cì hé zuò zhōng shēn tuǐ.
He always wants to insinuate himself into this cooperation.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

伸shēnstretch

伸 means stretch and 腿 means leg, so the image of stretching the legs gives the literal sense and slang uses.

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.

亻申伸

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénman

Sound part声符shēngfú

申

申shēn伸shēn

Same sound today

伸 puts 亻, the side form of 人 (person), next to 申, which gives the sound.

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

肉肉ròuflesh

Sound part声符shēngfú

退

退tuì腿tuǐ

Same sound today

The 肉 part is flesh, showing a body part; the 退 part gives the sound.

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