天下第一 (tiān xià dì yī) — unmatched; peerless; the best in the world

Definition

An idiom meaning 'the best in the world / peerless' — used to praise someone's skill or achievement as unmatched. Fixed four-character set phrase; never change the order or substitute words.

idiom
unmatchedpeerlessthe best in the world

Examples

  • ，天下第一。
    Hěn duō wǔ xiá xiǎo shuō lǐ, tā dōu shì tiān xià dì yī.
    In many martial arts novels, he is the best under heaven.
  • ，天下第一。
    Zhè cì bǐ sài tā dé le guàn jūn, zhēn shì tiān xià dì yī.
    She won the championship in this competition, truly unmatched.
  • 天下第一，。
    Tā de chú yì tiān xià dì yī, méi rén bǐ de shàng.
    His cooking skills are peerless; no one can compare.

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.

天下the world
天tiānheaven下xiàunder
偏正Modifier + head
第一first
第dìordinal一yīone
前缀Prefix

天 “heaven”, 下 “under”, 第 “ordinal”, and 一 “one” build “the first under heaven”.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →

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

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
𥫗Written in full as竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
弟
弟dì第dì
Same sound today

第 shows 𥫗, the bamboo strips once used for writing and sorting, with 弟 giving the sound.

Open 第 →

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 →

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