连滚带爬

• Pinyin: lián gǔn dài pá
• Hanzi breakdown: 连 = 辶 + 车 (consecutive/linked); 滚 = 氵 + 衮 (roll); 带 = 巾 + 廿 + 糸 (carry along); 爬 = 爪 + 巴 (crawl)

Meaning

Rolling and crawling; moving frantically in a panicked, ungainly manner. Describes desperate, hurried movement with great difficulty.

A vivid four-character expression describing chaotic, uncontrolled scrambling — used humorously or in narratives about flight, embarrassment, or extreme haste. Can describe both literal physical scrambling and figurative desperate situations.

Examples

1. 小偷被追赶时连滚带爬地翻过墙头，狼狈不堪地仓皇逃窜。 As he was chased, the thief scrambled over the wall in a panic and fled in a sorry state.
2. 孩子在操场上绊倒后连滚带爬地站了起来，继续追赶前面的同伴。 After tripping on the playground, the child scrambled back to his feet and kept chasing the friends ahead.
3. 突如其来的批评令他措手不及，连滚带爬地逃出了会议室。 The sudden criticism caught him off guard, and he bolted out of the conference room in a fluster.

Usage Guide

Context: narrative, colloquial, humour, description

Tone: vivid/humorous

Do Say

• 听到警报声，小偷连滚带爬地从后门逃出，消失在夜色之中。(Hearing the alarm, the thief scrambled frantically out of the back door and vanished into the night.)
• 山坡太陡，他脚下一滑，连滚带爬地一路滑到了山脚下。(The slope was too steep — his foot slipped and he tumbled all the way to the bottom of the hill.)

Don't Say

• 在正式书面文体中使用'连滚带爬' — 该词语为口语化表达，正式场合宜改用'仓皇逃窜'或'狼狈撤退'

Origin & History

连 (continuously) + 滚 (roll) + 带 (along with) + 爬 (crawl) — vividly depicting frantic scrambling motion

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal