Situations
束手無策
속수무책
shù shǒu wú cè
Sok-su-mu-chaek
束
묶을 속
手
손 수
無
없을 무
策
꾀 책
Character by character
Meaning
Hands tied and no plan left.
Origin
A classical phrase for standing with bound hands and no stratagem.
How it is used
Used when there is simply no means of responding.
Hanja束手無策
Simplified束手无策
Korean reading속수무책
Pinyinshù shǒu wú cè
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does Sok-su-mu-chaek mean?
束手無策 · Hands tied and no plan left.
Q. Where does Sok-su-mu-chaek come from?
A classical phrase for standing with bound hands and no stratagem.
Q. How is Sok-su-mu-chaek used?
Used when there is simply no means of responding.
Idioms in the same group
四面楚歌 Sa-myeon-cho-gaChu songs on all four sides — surrounded with nowhere to turn.進退兩難 Jin-toe-yang-nanHard to advance and hard to retreat.累卵之危 Nu-ran-ji-wiAs precarious as a stack of eggs.風前燈火 Pung-jeon-deung-hwaA lamp flame before the wind — an extremely precarious state.五里霧中 O-ri-mu-jungInside a fog five li deep — completely unable to make sense of things.雪上加霜 Seol-sang-ga-sangFrost on top of snow — one misfortune stacked on another.
The idioms used in Korea mix phrases from the Chinese classics with ones coined in Korea. Where an expression is not used in China, the entry says so.