踏步 (tà bù) — to march in place, to mark time; (figurative) t…

Definition

Literally 'to step / march in place' (e.g. during a drill). Figuratively, it means to 'mark time' — stay stuck without real progress.

verb

to march in placeto mark time(figurative) to stagnateto make no progress

踏步。
Jiào liàn ràng wǒ men yuán dì tà bù shí fēn zhōng.
The coach had us march in place for ten minutes.
，。
Tā zhī zài yuán dì tà le jǐ bù, bìng méi yǒu qián jìn.
He only took a few steps in place and didn't move forward.
踏步，。
Gōng sī de yè jì yì zhí zài tà bù, méi yǒu zēng zhǎng.
The company's performance has been stagnating with no growth.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

踏 means to tread or step, and 步 denotes a step, so the word expresses stepping in place or making no progress.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

足足zúfoot

Sound part声符shēngfú

沓

Same sound today

踏 has 足 (foot) as its left part to show a foot-related meaning, and 沓 as its right part to give the sound.

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

止止步

步 uses two 止 (foot) forms, one reversed, to show one foot stepping in front of the other.

Appears in