大手大脚 (dà shǒu dà jiǎo) — (idiom) extravagant; wasteful; spending money c…

Definition

An idiom describing a person who spends money carelessly and extravagantly, used to criticize wasteful habits with money.

idiom

extravagantwastefulspending money carelessly

大手大脚，。
Tā huā qián dà shǒu dà jiǎo, hěn kuài jiù méi qián le.
He spends money extravagantly and soon runs out of money.
大手大脚，。
dà shǒu dà jiǎo De xí guàn bù hǎo, yào xué huì jié yuē.
The habit of being wasteful is not good; you should learn to save.
大手大脚。
Tā dà shǒu dà jiǎo dì mǎi le hěn duō méi yòng de dōng xī.
She bought a lot of useless things extravagantly.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

大手big hand

偏正Modifier + head

大脚big foot

偏正Modifier + head

大手 and 大脚 stand together, large hands and feet picturing careless spending.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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.

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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 腳; 脚 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat, body

Sound part声符shēngfú

卻

卻què腳jiǎo

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 腳 uses ⺼ for a body part and 卻 for the sound; the simplified 脚 is a later shorthand.