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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

走投無路

/t͡soʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ tʰoʊ̯³⁵ u³⁵ lu⁵¹/
to be very desperate; to have no way out; to be back to the wall
  • 走投无路
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Etymology graph

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The phrase describes a person walking until they find no more paths to follow, leaving them trapped at a dead end.
The phrase describes a person walking until they find no more paths to follow, leaving them trapped at a dead end.

Origin

The phrase 走投無路 is composed of four characters. 走 means to go, to walk, or to go on foot. 投 means to throw, to fling, or to pitch; it is formed with the semantic component 手 (hand) and the phonetic component 殳 (an ancient Chinese weapon). The component 殳 contains 𠘧, which refers to the wings of a bird in flight, and 又.

無 means to not have, there is not, or there does not exist. 路 means road, path, or street. It is formed with the semantic component 足 (foot) and the phonetic component 各 (each; every). The component 各 consists of 夂 (to approach from behind) and 口 (mouth).

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

走投無路由四個漢字組成。其中「走」意為行走、前進或步行；「投」有投擲、甩出或投射之意，其字形由語義成分「手」與音符「殳」組成；「殳」字包含「又」以及「𠘧」（用於「𠘧𠘧」，指鳥類飛翔的翅膀）。

「無」表示沒有或不存在；「路」指道路、路徑或街道，其字形由語義成分「足」與音符「各」組成；「各」字則由「口」與「夂」（意為從後方接近）組成。

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

Lineage

  • characterChinese走 “to go; to walk; to go on foot”
  • characterChinese投 “to throw; to fling; to pitch”
    • meaningChinese手 “hand (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 雙／双 m mn; 對／对 c)”
    • soundChinese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”
  • characterChinese無 “to not have; there is not; there does not exist”
  • characterChinese路 “road; path; street (Classifier: 條／条 m c mn)”
    • meaningChinese足 “foot”
    • soundChinese各 “each; every (determiner)”
      • ideaChinese夂 “to approach from behind”
      • ideaChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
Wiktionary etymology text

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

Meanings

phrase
  1. to be very desperate; to have no way out; to be back to the wall

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 想要前進卻已無路可走。形容處境困窘，卻找不到解決的方法。 例：他被賭債逼得走投無路，才後悔當初不該沉迷於賭博。

© 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