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Mythic Mandarin

守株待兔 (shǒu zhū dài tù): meaning and stroke order

守株待兔 (shǒu zhū dài tù) means lit. to guard a tree-stump, waiting for rabbits (idiom), to wait idly for opportunities.

守株待兔

Simplified
守株待兔
Traditional
守株待兔 (same form)
Pinyin
shǒu zhū dài tù

Stroke order of 守株待兔

守

  • shǒu to guard; to defend
  • 6 strokes

Stroke by stroke

株

  • zhū tree trunk; stump (tree root)
  • 10 strokes

Stroke by stroke

待

  • dāi to stay; to remain
  • dài to wait; to treat
  • 9 strokes

Stroke by stroke

兔

  • tù variant of 兔[tu4]
  • tù rabbit
  • 8 strokes
  • Traditional form: 兎

Stroke by stroke

Meaning of 守株待兔

  1. shǒu zhū dài tù
    • lit. to guard a tree-stump, waiting for rabbits (idiom)
    • to wait idly for opportunities
    • to trust to chance rather than show initiative

Radicals of the characters

守
Radical 宀 (Kangxi radical 40) · 6 strokes · 宀 on top, 寸 below
株
Radical 木 (Kangxi radical 75) · 10 strokes · 木 on the left, 朱 on the right
待
Radical 彳 (Kangxi radical 60) · 9 strokes · 彳 on the left, 寺 on the right
兔
Radical 儿 (Kangxi radical 10) · 8 strokes · built from 免 and 丶

Radicals and stroke counts: Unicode Unihan database. Structure: the shapes a character is written with (BabelStone IDS), not necessarily parts that carry meaning or sound.

守株待兔 in our stories

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

  • 爷爷说，这就叫“守株待兔”。

    yéye shuō zhè jiù jiào shǒu zhū dài tù

    Grandpa said this is what's called "waiting by the tree stump for hares".

    From the story Waiting by the tree stump HSK 4

Stories using 守株待兔

Dictionary data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Stroke data: Hanzi Writer data, derived from Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License). Animation: Hanzi Writer (MIT licence). Radicals and stroke counts: Unicode Unihan (Unicode License v3).