一干二净 (yī gān èr jìng) — thoroughly; completely; very clean; spotless | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A vivid idiom meaning 'completely, thoroughly' — used as a result complement (忘得一干二净, 擦得一干二净) to stress a clean, total state. 彻底 is the plain adjective 'thorough'; 一干二净 is more colorful and emphatic.

phrase

thoroughlycompletelyvery cleanspotless

Examples

一干二净。
Tā bǎ bīng xiāng lǐ de dōng xī quán chī le gè yī gān èr jìng.
He ate up everything in the fridge.
一干二净。
Zuó wǎn de shì wǒ wàng dé yī gān èr jìng.
I completely forgot about what happened last night.
一干二净。
Mā ma bǎ chú fáng cā dé yī gān èr jìng.
Mom wiped the kitchen spotlessly clean.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

一干one dry

一yīone干gāndry

偏正Modifier + head

二净two clean

二èrtwo净jìngclean

偏正Modifier + head

'干' means dry and '净' means clean; '一' and '二' stress total cleanliness.

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.

The simplified 干 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (饼干, 干杯) it is 乾; in others (干, 干活儿) (干扰) it is 幹 or 干.

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 乾; 干 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

倝

倝gàn乾gān

Same sound today

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

二 is drawn as two parallel strokes, where the number of strokes shows the amount.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Idioms & Set Phrases

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