依次 (yī cì) — in order; in succession | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

依次 means doing things one by one in a fixed order (e.g. 依次排队). Unlike 陆续, the order is deliberate and predetermined, not just happening one after another over time.

adverb

in orderin succession

Examples

依次。
Qǐng dà jiā yī cì pái duì shàng chē.
Please line up and board the bus in order.
，依次。
Kǎo shì shí, kǎo shēng men yī cì jìn rù kǎo chǎng.
During the exam, test-takers entered the examination room in order.
依次。
Lǎo shī yī cì niàn chū xué shēng de míng zì.
The teacher called out the students' names one by one.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

依yīaccording to

依 means according to and 次 means order, together giving in order.

Characters in this word

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

亻衣依

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénhuman

Sound part声符shēngfú

衣

衣yī依yī

Same sound today

依 is made from 亻, a person, plus 衣, which gives its sound.

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

The old form of 次 shows a person exhaling, with the marks above the figure representing breath.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Order & Arrangement

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