照着镜子刮脸,面面相觑 照著鏡子刮臉,面面相覷 照着鏡子刮臉,面面相覷

shaving one's face while looking in the mirror: faces look at faces

Saying俗语俗語

Two-part saying歇后语歇後語 · Rarely used now

Meaning
Describes people who are alarmed or at a loss and just stare at each other, not knowing what to do.
Wordplay
面 (miàn, 'face') is read literally, since shaving in a mirror puts one face before another, while 面面相觑 (miànmiàn xiāngqù) figuratively means 'look at one another in dismay'.
Simplified
照着镜子刮脸,面面相觑
Traditional (Taiwan)
照著鏡子刮臉,面面相覷
Traditional (Hong Kong)
照着鏡子刮臉,面面相覷
Pinyin
zhàozhe jìngzi guāliǎn, miànmiàn-xiāngqù
Bopomofo
ㄓㄠˋ ˙ㄓㄜ ㄐㄧㄥˋ ˙ㄗ ㄍㄨㄚ ㄌㄧㄢˇ,ㄇㄧㄢˋ ㄇㄧㄢˋ ㄒㄧㄤ ㄑㄩˋ

Written with HSK 4 vocabulary, at CEFR level B1.

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