打哪兒指哪兒

简 打哪儿指哪儿 · 繁 打哪兒指哪兒
Mandarin · pinyin dǎ nǎ r zhǐ nǎ r

Meanings

  1. (coll.) to act first and then claim the outcome was intended; to act without a clear aim and justify it afterward (ironic reversal of 指哪兒打哪兒 zhǐ nǎ r dǎ nǎ r, where one aims clearly and executes with precision)
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Characters in this entry

打
dǎ · strike, hit, beat; fight; attack
哪
nǎ · which? where? how?
兒
ér · son, child, oneself; final part
指
zhǐ · finger, toe; point, indicate
儿
ér · son, child; Kangxi radical 10
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–3–5–3–3–5 · da3 na3 r5 zhi3 na3 r5

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

打哪兒指哪兒 · find source passages ↗ · 打哪儿指哪儿 · find source passages ↗

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打哪兒指哪兒 · da3 na3 r5 zhi3 na3 r5
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 44,679
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record打哪兒指哪兒 打哪儿指哪儿 [da3 na3 r5 zhi3 na3 r5] /(coll.) to act first and then claim the outcome was intended; to act without a clear aim and justify it afterward (ironic reversal of 指哪兒打哪兒|指哪儿打哪儿[zhi3 na3 r5 da3 na3 r5], where one aims clearly and executes with precision)/