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袖手旁观

xiù shǒu páng guān

HSK 3.0 level 7-9 4-character word Traditional 袖手旁觀

袖手旁观 (xiù shǒu páng guān) means "to watch with folded arms (idiom); to look on without lifting a finger". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was not on the old six-level HSK list.

What 袖手旁观 means

1. to watch with folded arms (idiom); to look on without lifting a finger

The characters in 袖手旁观

• 袖xiùsleeve; to tuck inside one's sleeve
• 手shǒuhand; (formal) to hold; person engaged in certain types of work
• 旁pángone side; other; different
• 观guānto look at; to watch; to observe

Example sentences

• 你要是不答应的话，我就袖手旁观。
  Nǐ yàoshi bù dāying dehuà, wǒ jiù xiùshǒupángguān.
  If you don't make the promise, then I'll just stand by and watch.
• 只要好人袖手旁观，恶人就会得胜。
  Zhǐyào hǎo rén xiùshǒupángguān, èrén jiù huì déshèng.
  As long as good people do nothing, evil will triumph.

Go deeper

• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read xiù shǒu páng guān correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.