HSK 7–9 vocabularyHSK 3.0

身不由己

shēnbùyóujǐ

(idiom) (of one's circumstances) beyond one's control; unable to do anything about it; (of one's actions) not subject to conscious control (i.e. done in spite of oneself)

HSK 7–9
HSK 7–9 flashcards →Quiz

Meaning of 身不由己 in English

shēnbùyóujǐHSK 7–9Syllabus #8967
  1. (idiom) (of one's circumstances) beyond one's control; unable to do anything about it; (of one's actions) not subject to conscious control (i.e. done in spite of oneself)

Characters

身 on its own →
shēn · classifier for sets of clothes: suit, tw

HSK words with 身

身体HSK 2身边HSK 3身高HSK 3身HSK 4健身HSK 4全身HSK 4健身房HSK 4身份证HSK 4身材HSK 5身份HSK 5
不 on its own →
bù · no; not so

HSK words with 不

不HSK 1不要HSK 1不客气HSK 1对不起HSK 1不错HSK 2不好意思HSK 2不但HSK 3不见HSK 3不用HSK 3不同HSK 3
由 on its own →
yóu · from

HSK words with 由

由HSK 4由于HSK 4理由HSK 5由此HSK 5自由HSK 5由来HSK 6由衷HSK 7–9不由得HSK 7–9不由自主HSK 7–9
Tap the character to see its stroke order

HSK words with 己

自己HSK 2知己HSK 7–9各抒己见HSK 7–9损人利己HSK 7–9

Level, pinyin and part of speech: HSK Syllabus (CLEC, Nov 2025). Definitions: CC-CEDICT, CC BY-SA 4.0. Sources & licences