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结结巴巴

結結巴巴
jiējiēbābā
idiom #31,327

Meanings

  1. 1 stammeringly; with a stutter
  2. 2 (of speech) halting; broken; not flowing
  3. 3 barely making something work; piecing things together with effort

Examples

他紧张得结结巴巴说不出话。
Tā jǐnzhāng de jiējiē bābā shuō bù chū huà.
He was so nervous he couldn't get the words out.
她结结巴巴地把昨晚发生的事说了一遍。
Tā jiējiē bābā de bǎ zuówǎn fāshēng de shì shuōle yí biàn.
She stammered through an account of what happened last night.
他的英语结结巴巴的，但能交流。
Tā de Yīngyǔ jiējiē bābā de, dàn néng jiāoliú.
His English is halting, but he can communicate.

Tips

history
Listed as a chengyu in 《新华成语词典》 (Xinhua Chengyu Dictionary), with derivation cited from Lao She's 《骆驼祥子》 (Camel Xiangzi / Rickshaw Boy, 1936), Chapter 13: 结结巴巴的，他把昨夜晚的事说了一遍 — 'haltingly, he told over what had happened the night before'. The phrase is built by reduplicating 结巴 'stutter' (jiēba) with the AABB pattern that intensifies adjectives in Chinese.
mistakes
Note 结 here reads jiē (1st tone), not jié — 结巴 'to stammer' has a special reading. For 'tied/knotted' senses, 结 is jié; only the stutter sense uses jiē.

Stroke Order

结 jié
巴 bā