📖 Meaning
To sway and wobble from side to side. Originally describing an unsteady gait, it is now used metaphorically to mean being indecisive, easily swayed, or lacking firmness in one's position or convictions.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase was prominently used by Mao Zedong in his 1955 speech 'On the Question of Agricultural Cooperation.' In it, he criticized certain comrades who moved cautiously and hesitantly, comparing them to a woman with bound feet wobbling unsteadily along the road, constantly complaining that others were walking too fast. The vivid image of swaying east and west conveyed the idea of vacillation in the face of progress. The expression has since become a common metaphor for indecisiveness and lack of resolve.
💡 Example Usage
遇到困难就东摇西摆的人，很难取得真正的成就。
A person who wavers back and forth at the first sign of difficulty will find it hard to achieve real success.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 东摇西摆
- Pinyin: dōng yáo xī bǎi
- Literal Translation: east, sway, west, swing
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4