束手就擒 (shù shǒu jiù qín) — to give up without a fight; to surrender meekly

Definition

A vivid idiom meaning to give up without any resistance — literally 'hands bound, awaiting capture.' Conveys surrender with a sense of helplessness, not just giving up.

idiom

to give up without a fightto surrender meekly

Examples

束手就擒。
Dí jūn bèi bāo wéi hòu zhǐ dé shù shǒu jiù qín.
The enemy had no choice but to surrender without a fight after being surrounded.
，束手就擒，。
Miàn duì qiáng dà de duì shǒu, tā xuǎn zé shù shǒu jiù qín, fàng qì bǐ sài.
Facing a powerful opponent, he chose to give up without a fight and quit the competition.
，束手就擒。
Jǐng chá yǐ jīng fēng suǒ le suǒ yǒu chū kǒu, dǎi tú zuì zhōng shù shǒu jiù qín.
The police had sealed off all exits, and the criminal finally surrendered without a struggle.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

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

束手bind hands

束shùbind手shǒuhands

动宾Verb + object

就擒accept capture

就jiùaccept擒qíncapture

动宾Verb + object

束手, binding the hands, and 就擒, accepting capture, picture surrender without resistance.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 束 comes from a drawing of a bag tied at both ends.

Open 束 →

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 →

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

享享xiǎng
京京jīng

An older form paired 享, a temple, with 京, a tower, showing sacrifice at a high place; in 就 the temple part was dropped and a right part for going upward was added.

Open 就 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

扌禽擒

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒu

Sound part声符shēngfú

禽

禽qín擒qín

Same sound today

The left part 扌 is a hand, written in full as 手, so the character shows an action done with the hand; the right part 禽 gives its sound.

Open 擒 →

Appears in