东奔西走 (dōng bēn xī zǒu)

Character breakdown

• 东 (Dōng) · 5 strokes

  Pictograph of a basket or a bag. The current meaning "east" is a phonetic loan. The simplified character 东 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 東.

• 奔 (bēn) · 8 strokes

  Depicts a person (大) with more than one 止 (foot) components to indicate faster movement. Similar in origin to 走.

• 西 (Xī) · 6 strokes

  西 was written two different ways in ancient scripts: (1) a pictograph of a bird's nest, and (2) a variant of the phonetically similar 囟.

• 走 (zǒu) · 7 strokes

  Originally written as 夭, depicting a person swaying their arms (夭) while walking quickly. The foot component 止 was added later.

Usage

为了养家，他每天东奔西走。

to run this way and that (idiom); to rush about busily; to bustle about; to hopscotch; also 东跑西颠

wèi le yǎng jiā ， tā měi tiān dōng bēn xī zǒu 。