没辙
méi zhé · HSK 7
at one's wit's end
🛞 辙 = cart-wheel rut; 没辙 = no ruts left to follow, so no way out
辙 zhé is the track a cart wheel cuts into a road. 没 méi means without. With no rut to follow, a traveler has no path forward — hence stuck, at one's wit's end.
没 — water 氵 + 殳 (hand with weapon)
Originally depicted something sinking or being submerged in water, combining the water radical 氵 with 殳, suggesting a hand reaching into a whirlpool. The core sense was 'to sink, drown, disappear under water.' From there it extended to 'to vanish, not have,' giving the modern negative meaning 'not, have not.'