にっちもさっちもいかない · i-adjective
| Form | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Dictionary | にっちもさっちもいかない | にっちもさっちもいかなくない |
| Polite | にっちもさっちもいかないです | にっちもさっちもいかなくないですalso にっちもさっちもいかなくありません |
| Past polite | にっちもさっちもいかなかったです | にっちもさっちもいかなくなかったですalso にっちもさっちもいかなくありませんでした |
| Past | にっちもさっちもいかなかった | にっちもさっちもいかなくなかった |
| Te-form | にっちもさっちもいかなくて | にっちもさっちもいかなくなくて |
| Adverbial | にっちもさっちもいかなく | |
| Conditional | にっちもさっちもいかなければ | にっちもさっちもいかなくなければ |
| Tara conditional | にっちもさっちもいかなかったら | にっちもさっちもいかなくなかったら |
stuck; in a bind; between a rock and a hard place
Describes a situation where one is completely stuck with no way out, often financially or in a dilemma. The expression is a fixed negative phrase; it is almost always used in the negative form にっちもさっちもいかない.
I can't repay my debts and am completely stuck.
With problems both at work and at home, I'm caught between a rock and a hard place.
Similar meaning of being helpless or having no solution, but にっちもさっちもいかない emphasizes being trapped in a dilemma with no way forward or backward, often with a nuance of financial or practical deadlock.
Literally 'cannot move one's body'; used for being physically or situationally stuck. にっちもさっちもいかない is more idiomatic and often implies a hopeless predicament.
Ateji kanji spelling using 二進 (binary) and 三進 (ternary) for the sound. Rarely used in practice; mainly encountered in older or stylized writing.
Variant ateji spelling with 行く for いく. Even rarer than the いかない form.
The phrase developed from the Edo-period abacus expression 二進も三進も行かない, meaning that a calculation works by neither division by two nor division by three. 二進 and 三進 underwent sound changes to にっち and さっち.