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How do you express "strolling/pacing back and forth"? For example, if you are waiting for someone in front of a bus stop, you might walk back and forth a bit on a stretch of side walk.

I stumbled across 踱来踱去 duó lái duó qù "strolling/pacing back and forth" while doing some reading a while back. However, I'm not sure how common this expression is because it took some effort to type, and the example sentences I could find seem a bit literary.

Are there some more common ways to express this idea?

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  • jukuu:pacing:6. 有人在幕布后踱来踱去。 7. 他一面说一面来回走动,聪明的瘦脸上神采焕发。 9. 他的顶头上司可能在那踱来踱去,思索着解雇他的辞令呢。11. 你一直在来回踱步。 91.那年轻人摇了摇头,又在人行道上垂头丧气地踱来踱去;一看见我朝他的方向走来,就停步看着我。小狗开始晃动尾巴。 99.怎么了,丽莎?你一直来回踱步着。 (more in between 1 and 100)
    – user6065
    Aug 4, 2017 at 20:01

3 Answers 3

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踱 is a bit formal. 走来走去 or 晃来晃去 will be more colloquial.

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踱步= pacing

来回踱步= pacing around

踱来踱去= pacing back and forth

Since 'pacing' means "repeatedly walking back and forth across. " We can say 踱步, 来回踱步 and 踱来踱去 are basically describing the same action.

Example:

在房间里踱步, 在房间里来回踱步, 在房间里踱来踱去

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徘徊

ABC

V.

1 pace back and forth

Oxford

他独自在江边徘徊。

He wandered alone by the river.

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  • I originally included 徘徊 in my answer, but 徘徊 mainly means "lingering" and "wandering" therefore I deleted it from my post.
    – Tang Ho
    Aug 5, 2017 at 0:13

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