敬而远之 (jìng ér yuǎn zhī)

Character breakdown

• 敬 (jìng) · 12 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 茍 represents the sound and 攵 represents the meaning.

• 而 (ér) · 6 strokes

  Originally a pictograph of a beard, now written as 耏. The current use as a conjunction is a phonetic loan.

• 远 (yuǎn) · 7 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 元 represents the sound. Simplified form of 遠.

• 之 (zhī) · 3 strokes

  Pictograph of a foot (止) going out of an area. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Usage

对这种人，最好敬而远之。

to show respect from a distance (idiom); to remain at a respectful distance

duì zhè zhǒng rén ， zuì hǎo jìng ér yuǎn zhī 。