寸步难行 — Chinese idiom
寸步难行
cùn bù nán xíng
Traditional: 寸步難行
Meaning
- unable to move a single step
- to be in an (extremely) difficult situation
Character by character
- 寸cùninch; small, tiny
- 步bùwalk, stroll, pace, march; to make progress
- 难nánhard, difficult, arduous; unable
- 行xíngto go, to walk, to move; professional
Idioms sharing a character
- 寸土寸金 cùn tǔ cùn jīn
- 寸步不让 cùn bù bù ràng
- 寸步不离 cùn bù bù lí
- 寸草不生 cùn cǎo bù shēng
- 得寸进尺 dé cùn jìn chǐ
- 手无寸铁 shǒu wú cùn tiě
- 方寸大乱 fāng cùn dà luàn
- 方寸已乱 fāng cùn yǐ luàn
- 柔肠寸断 róu cháng cùn duàn
- 肝肠寸断 gān cháng cùn duàn
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.