📖 Meaning
Describes a scene of busy, disordered activity where many people work together at once. It conveys the chaotic energy of everyone pitching in simultaneously, with hands and feet all in motion.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom appears in Li Chang's memoir 'Recollections of the People's Vanguard Team' (回忆民先队), which documents the activities of the People's Vanguard Team during the wartime period. The author describes a tense moment when members were hastily organizing documents and packing belongings before police arrived at the courtyard. The phrase vividly captures the frantic, collective effort of everyone scrambling to act at the same time. It is also written as '七足八手'.
💡 Example Usage
大家七脚八手地把家具搬进了新房子。
Everyone pitched in hands and feet, hastily moving the furniture into the new house.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 七脚八手
- Pinyin: qī jiǎo bā shǒu
- Literal Translation: seven, feet, eight, hands
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4