袖 xiù
- Strokes
- 10
- Radical
- 衤 — cloth
- Made of
- 衤 cloth 由 cause, reason
- How it's built
- Phono-semantic — one part hints at the meaning, another at the sound
袖手旁观
xiùshǒupángguān
to stand by and do nothing
Characters in this word
手 shǒu
- Strokes
- 4
- Radical
- 手 — hand
- How it's built
- Pictograph — a drawing of the thing
旁 páng
- Strokes
- 10
- Radical
- 方 — square, rectangle
- How it's built
- Phono-semantic — one part hints at the meaning, another at the sound
观 guān
- Strokes
- 6
- Radical
- 见 — to see, to observe, to meet, to appear
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
Example phrases
- 遇到不公平的事，我们不能袖手旁观，要勇敢说出来。 Yùdào bùgōngpíng de shì, wǒmen bùnéng xiùshǒu pángguān, yào yǒnggǎn shuō chūlái. When we encounter something unfair, we cannot stand by; we must speak up bravely.
- 看到有人乱扔垃圾，我们不能袖手旁观。 Kàndào yǒu rén luàn rēng lājī, wǒmen bùnéng xiùshǒu pángguān. Seeing someone litter, we cannot just stand by and do nothing.
- 朋友遇到困难时，袖手旁观是不对的。 Péngyou yùdào kùnnan shí, xiùshǒu pángguān shì bú duì de. When a friend runs into difficulties, standing by and watching is wrong.