隔岸观火 (gé àn guān huǒ) — to watch someone's trouble from a safe distance without helping; to be an indifferent bystander

Definition

A chengyu for 'watching a fire from the other shore' — standing by indifferently while others suffer. Strongly negative: it criticizes the bystander, unlike neutral verbs like 观看.

idiom
to watch someone's trouble from a safe distance without helpingto be an indifferent bystander

Examples

  • ，隔岸观火，。
    Lín jū jiā shī huǒ, tā què gé àn guān huǒ, shí zài ràng rén xīn hán.
    His neighbor's house caught fire, but he just watched from the sidelines — truly chilling.
  • ，隔岸观火。
    Miàn duì péng you de kùn jìng, wǒ men bú yīng gāi gé àn guān huǒ.
    Faced with a friend's difficulty, we shouldn't just stand by and watch.
  • 隔岸观火。
    Zhè zhǒng gé àn guān huǒ de tài dù zài tuán duì hé zuò zhōng hěn bù kě qǔ.
    This kind of indifferent bystander attitude is very undesirable in teamwork.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

隔岸opposite bank
隔géseparated岸ànbank
偏正Modifier + head
观火watch fire
观guānwatch火huǒfire
动宾Verb + object

隔岸 (across the bank) and 观火 (watch fire) picture seeing trouble from a safe distance.

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
阝Written in full as阜fùwall
Sound part声符shēngfú
鬲
鬲gé隔gé
Same sound today

隔 puts 阝, a wall, with 鬲, which gives the sound gé, to show separating with a wall.

Open 隔 →

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
屵屵àncliff
Sound part声符shēngfú
干
干gān岸àn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

岸 shows 屵, a cliff, next to 干, which gives a clue to the sound; together they point to the edge of land.

Open 岸 →

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 觀; 观 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
見見jiànsee
Sound part声符shēngfú
雚
雚guàn觀guān
Same sound today

The traditional form 觀 uses 見 (see) for meaning and 雚 for sound.

Open 观 →

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

火 is a simple drawing of a fire, with flames shown rising upward.

Open 火 →

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