一 yī
- Strokes
- 1
- Radical
- 一 — one
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
一筹莫展
yìchóumòzhǎn
to be at one’s wits’ end
Characters in this word
筹 chóu
- Strokes
- 13
- Radical
- ⺮ — bamboo
- Made of
- ⺮ bamboo 寿 old age, longevity
- How it's built
- Phono-semantic — one part hints at the meaning, another at the sound
莫 mò
- Strokes
- 10
- Radical
- 艹 — grass, weed, plant, herb
- Made of
- 艹 grass, weed, plant, herb 旲 daylight, sunlight
展 zhǎn
- Strokes
- 10
- Radical
- 尸 — body, corpse
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
Example phrases
- 这个问题太复杂了，我们研究了一整个晚上，还是一筹莫展。 Zhège wèntí tài fùzá le, wǒmen yánjiūle yī zhěnggè wǎnshang, háishì yīchóumòzhǎn. This problem was too complicated; we studied it for a whole evening and were still at our wits' end.
- 电脑突然坏了，他折腾了一上午，还是一筹莫展。 Diànnǎo tūrán huàile, tā zhēténgle yī shàngwǔ, háishì yīchóumòzhǎn. The computer suddenly broke down; he fiddled with it all morning but could do nothing.
- 数学题越想越乱，弟弟坐在桌前，一时一筹莫展。 Shùxué tí yuè xiǎng yuè luàn, dìdi zuò zài zhuō qián, yīshí yīchóumòzhǎn. The more he thought about the math problem, the more confused he got; the younger brother sat at the desk, momentarily at a loss.
Related words
- 一 yī one
- 一半 yíbàn half
- 一会儿 yíhuìr a moment, a little while
- 一块儿 yíkuàir together
- 一下儿 yíxiàr a bit, briefly (after a verb)
- 一样 yíyàng the same, alike
- 一边 yìbiān one side; while (doing two things at once)
- 一点儿 yìdiǎnr a little, a bit
- 一起 yìqǐ together
- 一些 yìxiē some, a few
- 不一定 bùyídìng not necessarily
- 不一会儿 bùyíhuìr in a short while