朝三暮四 (zhāo sān mù sì)

Character breakdown

• 朝 (Cháo) · 12 strokes

  Depicts the early part of morning when the sun (日) can still be seen on the horizon between blades of grass (屮), and the moon (月) is still in the sky. Based on the original meaning "early morning". Th…

• 三 (Sān) · 3 strokes

  Three horizontal strokes, representing the number three.

• 暮 (mù) · 14 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 莫 represents the sound.

• 四 (sì) · 5 strokes

  In ancient texts the character 亖 (four horizontal strokes) was used. The current form 四 depicts breathing through the nose and is the original form of 呬. The use of 四 as a number is a phonetic loan.

Usage

他做事总是朝三暮四，不能坚持。

lit. say three in the morning but four in the evening (idiom); to change sth that is already settled upon; indecisive; to blow hot and cold

tā zuò shì zǒng shì zhāo sān mù sì ， bù néng jiān chí 。