哭笑不得 (kū xiào bù dé)

Character breakdown

• 哭 (kū) · 10 strokes

  Depicts the howl (吅) of a dog (犬).

• 笑 (xiào) · 10 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 夭 represents the sound.

• 不 (bù) · 4 strokes

  Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

• 得 (dé) · 11 strokes

  Depicts a hand (寸) grabbing a shell (貝), used as currency in ancient China, to convey the meaning "get". Originally written as 㝵. The 彳 (movement) component was added later.

Usage

听了他的话，我真是哭笑不得。

lit. not to know whether to laugh or cry (idiom); both funny and extremely embarrassing; between laughter and tears

tīng le tā de huà ， wǒ zhēn shì kū xiào bù dé 。