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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

不堪一擊

/pu⁵¹ kʰän⁵⁵ i⁵⁵⁻⁵¹ t͡ɕi⁵⁵/
cannot withstand a single blow; collapse at the first blow
  • 不堪一击
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Origin

The phrase 不堪一擊 is formed by combining several characters. The character 不 means not, un-, in-, il-, im-, or ir-. The character 堪 means may, can, to be capable of, or to be able to; it is composed of the semantic component 土 (earth; soil) and the phonetic component 甚 (serious; extreme; excessive). The character 甚 is itself formed from 甘 (sweet) and 匕 (a kind of spoon in ancient China).

The phrase also includes 一, meaning one, and 擊, meaning to strike, to hit, or to beat. The character 擊 contains the semantic component 手 (hand) and the phonetic component 毄 (to hit against; to collide with; to strike). The component 毄 is composed of 軎 (axle tip) and 殳 (shu, an ancient Chinese weapon). The character 殳 is formed from 𠘧 (referring to the wings of a bird in flight) and 又 (again; once more).

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • characterChinese不 “not; un-; in-; il-; im-; ir-”
  • characterChinese堪 “may; can; to be capable of; to be able to”
    • meaningChinese土 “earth; soil”
    • soundChinese甚 “serious; extreme; excessive”
      • ideaChinese甘 “sweet”
      • ideaChinese匕 “a kind of spoon in ancient China”
  • characterChinese一 “one”
  • characterChinese擊 “to strike; to hit; to beat”
    • meaningChinese手 “hand (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 雙／双 m mn; 對／对 c)”
    • soundChinese毄 “to hit against; to collide with; to strike”
      • ideaChinese軎 “axle tip”
      • ideaChinese殳 “shu (an ancient Chinese weapon)”
        • ideaChinese𠘧 “used in 𠘧𠘧; refers to the wings of a bird in flight (according to the Shuowen Jiezi)”
        • ideaChinese又 “again; once more”
Wiktionary etymology text

No etymology text yet. The graph shows what is known from the sources.

Meanings

phrase
  1. cannot withstand a single blow; collapse at the first blow

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 禁不起任何的攻擊或打擊。形容非常脆弱。 例：他們的實力太差，簡直不堪一擊。

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0