东张西望

东张西望 dōngzhāngxīwàng

To look in all directions (idiom); to glance around†

东张西望 in a sentence HSK 6 繁體 東張西望 dongzhangxiwang

What 东张西望 means

  1. To look in all directions (idiom)†
  2. to glance around†

† Our own dictionary has no entry for 东张西望, so these meanings are adapted from CC-CEDICT, published by MDBG and its contributors and based on CEDICT © 1997, 1998 Paul Andrew Denisowski, and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Character by character

东张西望 is written with 4 characters. Chinese words are usually easier to remember once you can see what each part contributes.

东
dōng
East (owner - host)
张
zhāng
Open (extend - look - mw for flat things)
西
xī
West (the West)
望
wàng
To look in distance (expect - hope - gaze)

How to write 东张西望

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东张西望 in a sentence

他在门口东张西望,好像在等人。
Tā zài ménkǒu dōngzhāngxīwàng, hǎoxiàng zài děng rén.
He looked around in every direction at the door, as if waiting for someone.
上课时不要东张西望。
Shàngkè shí bú yào dōngzhāngxīwàng.
Don't let your eyes wander all over the place during class.

Every sentence on this site that uses 东张西望 is collected on the 东张西望 sentence page. Want pinyin above a sentence of your own? Paste it into the Pinyin Annotator.

Questions about 东张西望

What does 东张西望 mean in English?

东张西望 is pronounced dōngzhāngxīwàng and means To look in all directions (idiom), to glance around †.

How do you pronounce 东张西望?

东张西望 is dōngzhāngxīwàng in pinyin — written dongzhangxiwang without tone marks. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice.

What are the characters in 东张西望?

东张西望 is written with 4 characters: 东 (dōng) East (owner - host), 张 (zhāng) Open (extend - look - mw for flat things), 西 (xī) West (the West), 望 (wàng) To look in distance (expect - hope - gaze). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.

How is 东张西望 written in traditional Chinese?

東張西望. The simplified form 东张西望 is used in mainland China and Singapore; 東張西望 is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Both are pronounced dōngzhāngxīwàng.

Is 东张西望 an HSK word?

Yes — 东张西望 is on the official HSK 6 vocabulary list. You can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 6 page.

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