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日复一日 (rì fù yí rì) — day after day; day in, day out

Definition

Highlights tedious, unchanging repetition over time — 'day after day, the same routine.' Unlike 夜以继日 (intense, around-the-clock effort), it emphasizes monotony rather than dedication.

phrase
day after dayday inday out

Examples

  • ，。
    Tā rì fù yí rì dì xiě rì jì, jì lù shēng huó zhōng de xiǎo shì.
    He writes in his diary day after day, recording small things in life.
  • 日复一日，。
    Tā rì fù yí rì dì liàn xí gāng qín, zhōng yú huò dé le bǐ sài guàn jūn.
    She practiced the piano day after day and finally won the competition.
  • 日复一日。
    Zhè zhǒng rì fù yí rì de gōng zuò ràng rén gǎn dào wú liáo.
    This kind of day-after-day work makes people feel bored.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

Open 日 →

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 復; 复 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 复 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (复习, 恢复) it is 復; in others (复印, 复杂) (答复, 反复) it is 複 or 覆.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
彳彳chìwalk
Sound part声符shēngfú
复
复fù復fù
Same sound today

The traditional form 復 combines 彳, a walking part, with 复, a sound part, to show walking back and forth.

Open 复 →

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 →

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

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

Open 日 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Frequency & DurationIdioms & Set Phrases

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