Dictionary › 措手不及

措手不及

cuò shǒu bù jí

HSK 3.0 level 7-9 4-character word

措手不及 (cuò shǒu bù jí) means "no time to deal with it (idiom); caught unprepared". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was not on the old six-level HSK list.

What 措手不及 means

1. no time to deal with it (idiom); caught unprepared

The characters in 措手不及

• 措cuòto handle; to manage; to put in order
• 手shǒuhand; (formal) to hold; person engaged in certain types of work
• 不bùno; not so; (bound form) not; un-
• 及jíand; to reach; up to

Go deeper

• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read cuò shǒu bù jí correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.