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指手画脚

zhǐ shǒu huà jiǎo

HSK 3.0 level 7-9 4-character word Traditional 指手畫腳

指手画脚 (zhǐ shǒu huà jiǎo) means "to gesticulate while talking (idiom); to explain by waving one's hands; to criticize or give orders summarily". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was not on the old six-level HSK list.

What 指手画脚 means

1. to gesticulate while talking (idiom)
2. to explain by waving one's hands
3. to criticize or give orders summarily

The characters in 指手画脚

• 指zhǐfinger; to point at or to; to indicate or refer to
• 手shǒuhand; (formal) to hold; person engaged in certain types of work
• 画huàto draw; to paint; picture; painting; to draw (a line) (variant of 划
• 脚jiǎofoot; leg (of an animal or an object); base (of an object)

Example sentences

• 不要让她对你指手画脚。
  Bù yào ràng tā duì nǐ zhǐshǒuhuàjiǎo.
  Don't let yourself be bossed around by her.

Sounds the same

Read zhǐ shǒu huà jiǎo, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 指手划脚variant of 指手画脚

Go deeper

• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read zhǐ shǒu huà jiǎo correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.