속수무책

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 束手無策 (“to have one's hands bound and have no solution; to be at a loss”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰo̞ks͈umut͡ɕʰɛk̚] ~ [sʰo̞ks͈umut͡ɕʰe̞k̚]
• Phonetic hangul: [속쑤무책/속쑤무첵]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	soksumuchaek
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	sogsumuchaeg
McCune–Reischauer?	soksumuch'aek
Yale Romanization?	sok.swumu.chayk

Noun

속수무책 • (soksumuchaek) (hanja 束手無策)

1. (four-character idiom from Classical Chinese) being at a loss what to do; feeling helpless in the face of some difficulty

   여자친구가 흐느끼기 시작하자 남자는 속수무책으로 서 있기만 했다.

   Yeojachin'gu-ga heuneukkigi sijak-haja namja-neun soksumuchaeg-euro seo itgi-man haetda.

   When his girlfriend started to weep, the man only stood there helplessly.