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手无寸铁 (shǒu wú cùn tiě) — unarmed, defenseless (idiom)

Definition

Literally 'not an inch of iron in hand': someone with no weapon at all. Used as a stark contrast to an armed opponent, emphasizing total helplessness or vulnerability.

idiom
unarmeddefenseless (idiom)

Examples

  • 手无寸铁，。
    Tā shǒu wú cùn tiě, què yǒng gǎn dì chōng le shàng qù.
    Though unarmed, he bravely charged forward.
  • 手无寸铁，。
    Miàn duì shǒu wú cùn tiě de píng mín, shì bīng men fàng xià le qiāng.
    Facing unarmed civilians, the soldiers put down their guns.
  • ，手无寸铁。
    Jǐng chá gǎn dào shí, dǎi tú yǐ jīng shǒu wú cùn tiě le.
    By the time the police arrived, the attacker was already unarmed.

Origin

Characters in this word

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 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

寸 has two unrelated original forms: a line on the hand and an abbreviated form of another character. It was borrowed for its sound, so the picture is unrelated to the modern meaning.

Open 寸 →

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 鐵; 铁 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
金金jīnmetal
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢧤
𢧤𢧤鐵tiě
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 鐵 pairs 金 (metal) with 𢧤 as a sound part; the simplified 铁 is a later shorthand.

Open 铁 →
Appears in
Idioms & Set PhrasesMilitary & Defense

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