东张西望 (dōng zhāng xī wàng)

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.

• 张 (Zhāng) · 7 strokes

  Simplified form of 張. Phonosemantic compound. 弓 represents the meaning and 長 represents the sound.

• 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.

• 望 (wàng) · 11 strokes

  Pictograph of a person standing up (𡈼) and gazing at the moon (月). 亡 is a sound component.

Usage

上课时要专心，不要东张西望。

Pay attention in class and don't look around.

Shàngkè shí yào zhuānxīn, bùyào dōngzhāngxīwàng.