Chinese word dictionary

千钧一发

qiānjūn-yífà · lit. a thousand pounds hangs by a thread (idiom); fig. (at the) critical; perilous (moment)

Practice word

Word information

Simplified千钧一发

Traditional千鈞一髮

Pinyinqiānjūn-yífà

Part of speechGeneral

HSK 3.07-9

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

千qiān

thousand; many, numerous; very

钧jūn

unit of weight equal to thirty catties; your (formal)

一yī

one; first

发fā

to issue, to dispatch, to send out; hair

How to learn 千钧一发

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

千qiān

thousand; used in 鞦韆|秋千[qiu1 qian1]

第一dì yī

first; number one; primary

一yī

one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit

一半yíbàn

half

一下yíxià

(after a verb) a bit; a little (indicating brief duration, or softening the tone, or suggesting giving sth a try); all at once; suddenly

一点儿yìdiǎnr

erhua variant of 一點|一点[yi1 dian3]