一块块 (yī kuài kuài) — (measure word reduplication) piece by piece; ev…

Definition

Reduplication of the measure word 块, meaning 'piece by piece / every piece' — often used adverbially (∼地) to describe a repeated, distributed action or state across many individual pieces.

numeral

(measure word reduplication) piece by pieceevery piecein pieces

Examples

一块块。
Dì shàng yǒu yī kuài kuài shí tou.
There are pieces of stone on the ground.
一块块。
Tā bǎ dàn gāo qiē chéng yī kuài kuài de.
He cut the cake into pieces.
一块块。
Tā yī kuài kuài dì chī qiǎo kè lì.
He eats chocolate piece by piece.

Origin

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 塊; 块 is its simplified writing.

土鬼塊

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔearth; dust

Sound part声符shēngfú

鬼

鬼guǐ塊kuài

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 塊 pairs 土 (earth; dust) with 鬼 as a sound part to show a clod of dirt. The simplified 块 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the historical pieces.

Open 块 →