望而却步 — Chinese idiom
望而却步
wàng ér què bù
Traditional: 望而卻步
Meaning
- (lit.) to shrink back at the sight of (sth daunting)
- (fig.) to be deterred
Character by character
- 望wàngto expect, to hope, to look forward to
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 却quèstill, but; decline; retreat
- 步bùwalk, stroll, pace, march; to make progress
Idioms sharing a character
- 一望无垠 yī wàng wú yín
- 一望无际 yī wàng wú jì
- 一望而知 yī wàng ér zhī
- 不孚众望 bù fú zhòng wàng
- 不负众望 bù fù zhòng wàng
- 功高望重 gōng gāo wàng zhòng
- 名门望族 míng mén wàng zú
- 喜出望外 xǐ chū wàng wài
- 大喜过望 dà xǐ guò wàng
- 巴高望上 bā gāo wàng shàng
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.