措手不及 (cuò shǒu bù jí) — caught off guard, taken by surprise, unprepared…

Definition

An idiom for being caught off guard by a sudden event, with no time to react. Pairs with 突如其来 (the cause); 束手无策 describes the resulting helplessness.

phrase

caught off guardtaken by surpriseunprepared (for a sudden event)

，措手不及。
Zhè cì miàn shì de wèn tí hěn diāo zuān, wǒ bèi dǎ dé cuò shǒu bù jí.
The questions in this interview were so tricky that I was caught completely off guard.
，措手不及。
Bào fēng yǔ lái de tài tū rán, zhěng gè chéng shì dōu cuò shǒu bù jí.
The storm came so suddenly that the whole city was caught unprepared.
，措手不及。
Duì fāng tí chū zhè ge yāo qiú, wǒ men shí zài cuò shǒu bù jí.
The other side made this request, and we were truly caught off guard.

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.

扌昔措

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.

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

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

及 pairs 人 (person) with 又 (hand), showing a hand grabbing a person.

Appears in