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手足无措 (shǒu zú wú cuò) — at a loss; flustered; not knowing what to do

Definition

A chengyu describing being at a total loss — so flustered, nervous, or shocked that you don't know what to do or say. Stronger than 'confused'; implies being momentarily paralyzed.

idiom
at a lossflusterednot knowing what to do

Examples

  • ，手足无措，。
    Miàn duì zhè ge wèn tí, tā shǒu zú wú cuò, bù zhī dào gāi zěn me huí dá.
    Faced with this problem, he was at a loss, not knowing how to answer.
  • ，手足无措，。
    Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, dà jiā dōu shǒu zú wú cuò, yì shí shuō bù chū huà lái.
    Hearing this news, everyone was at a loss, unable to speak for a moment.
  • ，。
    Tā dì yī cì shàng tái yǎn jiǎng, jǐn zhāng dé shǒu zú wú cuò.
    He gave a speech on stage for the first time, was so nervous he was at a loss.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

手足hands and feet
手shǒuhand足zúfoot
联合Coordinate
无措no place to put
无wúnot have措cuòplace to put
动宾Verb + object

手足 (hands and feet) 无 (not have) 措 (a place to put them), so one is at a loss.

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.

足 was originally drawn as a leg.

Open 足 →

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 →

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
昔
昔xī措cuò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 扌 shows a hand, and the right side 昔 gives the sound; together they form 措.

Open 措 →
Appears in
Emotions & FeelingsIdioms & Set Phrases

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