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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

措手不及

/t͡sʰu̯ɔ⁵¹ ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ pu⁵¹ t͡ɕi³⁵/
to be caught unawares
  • HSK 10
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Origin

The phrase 措手不及 is formed from four characters: 措, 手, 不, and 及. According to the MOE Dictionary, the expression describes a situation where one is unable to cope because an event occurs suddenly.

In this construction, 措 means to place, to put in order, or to arrange. 手 refers to the hand. The character 不 means not, un-, or in-. The character 及 means to reach, to extend to, or to reach the level of. The character 及 is composed of the components 人 (man; person; people) and 又 (again; once more).

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

此詞組由四個漢字組成：「措」、「手」、「不」與「及」。其中，「措」字具有「放置」、「整理」或「安排」的意思，其字形包含語義成分「手」（指手，量詞可用隻、雙或對），並以「昔」作為音符。而「昔」字包含語義成分「日」，並由「仌」與「龷」等成分組成。

其他組成部分中，「手」指手（量詞可用隻、雙或對）；「不」表示否定；「及」則表示「到達」、「延伸」或「達到某種程度」。在「及」的字形結構中，包含了「人」與「又」兩個成分。

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

Lineage

  • characterChinese措 “to place; to put in order; to arrange”
    • soundChinese昔 “former times; the past; long ago; ancient times”
      • soundChinese龷
      • ideaChinese仌 “ice”
      • meaningChinese日 “Sun”
  • characterChinese手 “hand (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 雙／双 m mn; 對／对 c)”
  • characterChinese不 “not; un-; in-; il-; im-; ir-”
  • characterChinese及 “to reach; to extend to; to reach the level of”
    • ideaChinese人 “man; person; people (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 h)”
    • ideaChinese又 “again; once more”
Wiktionary etymology text

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

Meanings

phrase
  1. to be caught unawares

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 因事發突然，而來不及應付。 例：我軍深夜突襲敵軍陣地，打個敵軍措手不及。

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

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 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