不上不下

Chinese

		not; no	up; on; on top up; on; on top; upon; first; previous or last; upper; higher; above; previous; to climb; to go into; to go up	not; no	under; next; lower under; next; lower; below; underneath; down(wards); to go down; latter
simp. and trad. (不上不下)		不	上	不	下

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bùshàngbùxià

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄨˋ ㄕㄤˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄒㄧㄚˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bat¹ soeng⁶ bat¹ haa⁶

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bùshàngbùxià [Phonetic: búshàngbúxià]
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄨˋ ㄕㄤˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄒㄧㄚˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bùshàngbùsià
    • Wade–Giles: pu⁴-shang⁴-pu⁴-hsia⁴
    • Yale: bù-shàng-bù-syà
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bushanqbushiah
    • Palladius: бушанбуся (bušanbusja)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ ʂɑŋ⁵¹ pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ ɕi̯ä⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bat¹ soeng⁶ bat¹ haa⁶
    • Yale: bāt seuhng bāt hah
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bat⁷ soeng⁶ bat⁷ haa⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: bed¹ sêng⁶ bed¹ ha⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɐt̚⁵ sœːŋ²² pɐt̚⁵ haː²²/

Idiom

不上不下

1. between a rock and a hard place
2. in a bind; in a pickle
3. describes an awkward situation where one does not know what to do
4. inappropriate

See also

• (Cantonese) 唔上唔落
• 進退兩難／进退两难 (jìntuìliǎngnán)
• 進退維谷／进退维谷 (jìntuìwéigǔ)