冷眼旁观 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to observe with an indifferent attitude; to be a bystander (usually referring to someone who could get involved but chooses not to)

Character by character

• 冷lěngcold, cool; lonely
• 眼yǎneyelet, hole, opening
• 旁pángside; beside, close, nearby
• 观guānto observe, to spectate; appearance, view

Idioms sharing a character

• 冷嘲热讽 lěng cháo rè fěng
• 冷言冷语 lěng yán lěng yǔ
• 冷语冰人 lěng yǔ bīng rén
• 打入冷宫 dǎ rù lěng gōng
• 枕冷衾寒 zhěn lěng qīn hán
• 知冷知热 zhī lěng zhī rè
• 一板一眼 yī bǎn yī yǎn
• 一板三眼 yī bǎn sān yǎn
• 一眼看穿 yī yǎn kàn chuān
• 一饱眼福 yī bǎo yǎn fú

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