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道Nihongo Path

Word 1573 of 2920

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頭を抱える

あたまをかかえる

to be at a loss; to be troubled

By Nihongo PathUpdated

Examples

  1. 借金の問題に頭を抱えている。

    しゃっきんのもんだいにあたまをかかえている。

    I'm at a loss over the debt problem.

  2. 難しい問題に頭を抱えてしまった。

    むずかしいもんだいにあたまをかかえてしまった。

    I was left scratching my head over the difficult problem.

  3. 息子の成績が下がり続け、両親は頭を抱えている。

    むすこのせいせきがさがりつづけ、りょうしんはあたまをかかえている。

    Their son's grades keep falling, and his parents are at their wits' end.

Common patterns

問題に頭を抱える
to be at a loss over a problem
頭を抱え込む
to agonize over something
頭を抱えている
to be in a fix (ongoing)

Memory tip

The image is someone sitting with their head in their hands. It means having no idea what to do about a concrete problem, so it is stronger and more visual than plain 困る, and it usually appears in the ～ている form.

Kanji in this word

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What does 頭を抱える mean?