一口气 (yī kǒu qì) — in one go; at a stretch; without stopping | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

一口氣 means 'in one go, without stopping' — usually one continuous action, unlike 一举 (a single decisive move) or 一并 (grouping things together).

adverb

in one goat a stretchwithout stopping

Examples

一口气。
Tā yī kǒu qì dú wán le nà běn xiǎo shuō.
He finished reading that novel in one go.
一口气？
Nǐ néng yī kǒu qì zuò wán zhè xiē tí ma?
Can you finish these questions in one go?
一口气。
Tā yī kǒu qì hē le yí dà bēi shuǐ.
He drank a big glass of water in one go.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

一口one mouthful

一yīone口kǒumouthful

偏正Modifier + head

气qìbreath

一 gives one, 口 a mouthful, and 气 breath, giving in one breath.

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.

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

The form 口 looks like an open mouth.

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 氣; 气 is its simplified writing.

气米氣

Meaning part形符xíngfú

米米mǐrice

Sound part声符shēngfú

气

气qì氣qì

Same sound today

The traditional form 氣 pairs 米 (rice) with 气, which supplies the sound; the simplified 气 is a later abbreviation.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 Frequency & Duration

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