Chinese word dictionary

隔靴搔痒

gé xuē sāo yǎng · lit. to scratch the outside of the boot (idiom); fig. beside the point; ineffectual

Practice word

Word information

Simplified隔靴搔痒

Traditional隔靴搔癢

Pinyingé xuē sāo yǎng

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

隔gé

to separate, to partition, to divide

靴xuē

boots

搔sāo

to scratch

痒yǎng

to itch; to tickle

How to learn 隔靴搔痒

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

隔gé

to separate; to partition; to stand or lie between; at a distance from; after or at an interval of

隔壁gébì

next door; neighbor

间隔jiàngé

gap; interval; compartment; to divide; to separate; to leave a gap of (two weeks, three meters etc)

痒yǎng

to itch; to tickle; variant of 癢|痒[yang3]; to itch; to tickle

隔阂géhé

misunderstanding; estrangement; (language etc) barrier

隔离gélí

to separate; to isolate