东奔西走 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to run this way and that ; to rush about busily
• to bustle about
• to hopscotch
• also 东跑西颠 (dōng pǎo xī diān)

Character by character

• 东dōngeast, eastern, eastward
• 奔bēnto rush about; to run, to flee
• 西xīwest, western, westward
• 走zǒuto walk, to run, to flee

Idioms sharing a character

• 付之东流 fù zhī dōng liú
• 只欠东风 zhǐ qiàn dōng fēng
• 各奔东西 gè bèn dōng xī
• 拆东补西 chāi dōng bǔ xī
• 东倒西歪 dōng dǎo xī wāi
• 东兔西乌 dōng tù xī wū
• 东奔西跑 dōng bēn xī pǎo
• 东山再起 dōng shān zài qǐ
• 东张西望 dōng zhāng xī wàng
• 东征西怨 dōng zhēng xī yuàn

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.