碰壁

pèngbì

verb #29,839

Meanings

1 to hit a wall
2 to be rebuffed
3 to meet with a setback
4 to get the door slammed in your face

Characters

to bump; to collide; to meet

wall; partition

Examples

他四处求职，屡屡碰壁。

Tā sìchù qiúzhí, lǚlǚ pèngbì.

He applied for jobs everywhere but kept hitting walls.

谈判中我们频频碰壁，毫无进展。

Tánpàn zhōng wǒmen pínpín pèngbì, háo wú jìnzhǎn.

We kept hitting dead ends in the negotiations and made no progress.

Tips

memory

碰 (to bump into) + 壁 (wall) = to run smack into a wall. Imagine physically hitting a wall every time you try to move forward — that is exactly the feeling 碰壁 describes.

Stroke Order

碰 pèng

壁 bì