赤手空拳

chìshǒukōngquán

idiom #20,445

Meanings

1 bare-handed
2 unarmed
3 without tools or resources
4 starting from nothing

Characters

Examples

他赤手空拳地打败了两个歹徒。

Tā chìshǒukōngquán de dǎbài le liǎng gè dǎitú.

He fought off two criminals with his bare hands.

他赤手空拳地闯入了商界，最终成功。

Tā chìshǒukōngquán de chuǎngrù le shāngjiè, zuìzhōng chénggōng.

He entered the business world with nothing and eventually succeeded.

面对强敌，他们只能赤手空拳。

Miàn duì qiánggí, tāmen zhǐ néng chìshǒukōngquán.

Facing a powerful enemy, they had only their bare hands.

Tips

usage

Used both literally (physically unarmed) and figuratively (having no resources, connections, or capital when starting something). 赤手空拳闯天下 is a common phrase meaning 'to make one's way in the world starting from nothing'.

Stroke Order

赤 chì

手 shǒu

空 kōng

拳 quán