蹉跎

cuōtuó

verb #64,257

Meanings

HSK 5

他年轻时蹉跎了十几年，四十岁才开始创业。

Tā niánqīng shí cuōtuó le shíjǐ nián, sìshí suì cái kāishǐ chuàngyè.

He let more than ten years slip by when he was young and only started his own business at forty.

HSK 6

别再蹉跎时光了。

Bié zài cuōtuó shíguāng le.

Stop wasting your time.

usage

Literary. The set phrases are 蹉跎岁月 'to fritter away the years' and 岁月蹉跎 'the years slipped by unused'. Everyday speech says 浪费时间 or 虚度光阴.

memory

Both characters carry the foot radical 足: picture feet that keep stumbling and never get anywhere while the years slip by.

蹉 cuō

跎 tuó