无精打采 (wú jīng dǎ cǎi)

Character breakdown

• 无 (mó) · 4 strokes

  Pictograph of a person dancing, with ox tails or bird feathers hanging from his arms, to pray for rain. Original form of 舞 (dance). The current form is a phonetic loan. The simplified character 无 was…

• 精 (jīng) · 14 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 米 represents the meaning and 青 represents the sound.

• 打 (dá) · 5 strokes

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

• 采 (cǎi) · 8 strokes

  Pictograph of a hand (爫) picking fruit from a tree (木).

Usage

他今天看起来无精打采。

dispirited and downcast (idiom); listless; in low spirits; washed out

tā jīn tiān kàn qǐ lái wú jīng dǎ cǎi 。