oteage lit. ‘hands up’
Japanese idiom, everyday. To give up and admit defeat.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Japanese speaker.
How do people use お手上げ
?
Everyday and very common: “お手上げだ” is what you sigh when a problem has beaten you. It’s a noun, so it takes だ/です or の (“お手上げの状態”), and you can say what beat you with に (“この問題にはお手上げだ”). It’s about being out of options rather than quitting a fight on purpose.
Also said お手上げだ, お手上げの状態
お手上げ
in real sentences
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お手上げだ。
Oteage da.
I give up.
Tatoeba, sentence by bunbuku, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
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この問題にはお手上げだ。
Kono mondai ni wa oteage da.
This problem baffles me.
Tatoeba, sentence by small_snow, translation by CM, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does お手上げ
come from?
The Daijisen (via Kotobank) explains the picture: it comes from raising both hands to surrender, which then came to mean having no way left to solve something. English Wiktionary cites Nihon Kokugo Daijiten and Daijirin for the same breakdown, お + 手 (hands) + 上げ (raising). No date for the first recorded use is known.
Mistakes learners make with お手上げ
Turning it back into the verb phrase 手を上げる. English Wiktionary warns that 手を上げる usually means raising your hand in class or raising a hand against someone, so the surrender meaning only comes through in the fixed noun お手上げ.
Other Japanese idioms like お手上げ
Spot a mistake in お手上げ
?
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