📖 Meaning
Describes walking unsteadily, swaying and stumbling with an uneven gait. It portrays someone whose footing is wobbly and uncoordinated, as though they might fall at any moment.
📜 Origin Story
From the Ming Dynasty novel 'Water Margin' (水浒传) by Shi Nai'an, Chapter 37. Three characters hiding among reeds spot approaching torches and grow increasingly panicked, stumbling unsteadily through the reeds in their fear. The phrase vividly captures a fear-driven, unsteady gait. It also appears in Qing Dynasty works such as Xu Shukui's 'Kuài Shì Zhuàn' (快士传).
💡 Example Usage
他喝得醉醺醺的，脚高步低地走回家。
Dead drunk, he stumbled all the way home with a wildly unsteady gait.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 脚高步低
- Pinyin: jiǎo gāo bù dī
- Literal Translation: foot, high, step, low
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4