目瞪口呆 (mù dèng kǒu dāi)

Character breakdown

• 目 (mù) · 5 strokes

  Pictograph of an eye.

• 瞪 (dèng) · 17 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 目 represents the meaning and 登 represents the sound.

• 口 (kǒu) · 3 strokes

  Pictograph of a mouth.

• 呆 (dāi) · 7 strokes

  Depicts the mouth (口) being stuck and not moving, like wood (木), representing someone stupid or expressionless.

Usage

听到这个消息，他目瞪口呆。

dumbstruck (idiom); stupefied; stunned

tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xī ， tā mù dèng kǒu dāi 。