众口一词 (zhòng kǒu yī cí) — unanimous, all saying the same thing

Definition

A chengyu meaning everyone says exactly the same thing in agreement. Used to highlight a unanimous voice across a group.

idiom
unanimousall saying the same thing

Examples

  • ，众口一词，。
    Diào chá zhōng, suǒ yǒu yuán gōng zhòng kǒu yī cí, dōu shuō gōng sī guǎn lǐ yǒu wèn tí.
    In the survey, all employees said the same thing — that the company's management has problems.
  • ，众口一词，。
    Duì yú shì gù yuán yīn, jǐ wèi zhèng rén zhòng kǒu yī cí, dōu zhǐ rèn shì sī jī cāo zuò shī wù.
    Regarding the cause of the accident, several witnesses all said the same thing — they identified it as driver error.
  • 众口一词，。
    Suī rán dà jiā zhòng kǒu yī cí shuō zhè bù diàn yǐng bù hǎo kàn, dàn wǒ hái shì xiǎng qù kàn kàn.
    Although everyone unanimously says this movie isn't good, I still want to go see it.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 眾; 众 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 眾 shows three people under a sun-like shape, meaning a crowd gathered under the sun; the simplified 众 is a later shorthand.

Open 众 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 口 looks like an open mouth.

Open 口 →

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 詞; 词 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
司
司sī詞cí(r)
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 詞 uses 言, meaning speech, and 司 to show how it was pronounced; the simplified 词 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 词 →

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