措手不及 (cuò shǒu bù jí)

Character breakdown

• 措 (cuò) · 11 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 昔 represents the sound.

• 手 (shǒu) · 4 strokes

  Pictograph of a hand.

• 不 (bù) · 4 strokes

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

• 及 (jí) · 3 strokes

  Pictograph of a hand (又) reaching to grab a person (人).

Usage

这场大雨让人措手不及。

no time to deal with it (idiom); caught unprepared

zhè chǎng dà yǔ ràng rén cuò shǒu bù jí 。