HSK 6 · Ideas

一帆风顺 yìfānfēngshùn “plain sailing” in Chinese

Traditional 一帆風順

What 一帆风顺 means

  1. plain sailing
  2. everything goes smoothly
  3. propitious wind throughout the journey (idiom)
  4. to go smoothly
  5. have a nice trip!

How to say 一帆风顺

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale一yì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale帆fān1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale风fēng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale顺shùn4th tone, falling

Tone change. 一 is yī on its own. Before a fourth tone it becomes yí, and before the other tones yì. Textbooks write the change in, as here. How tone changes work

一帆风顺 in a sentence

  1. 我们路上一帆风顺，直到遇上暴风雪。

    Wǒmen lùshang yìfānfēngshùn, zhídào yùshàng bàofēngxuě.

    Everything went smoothly on our journey until we ran into a blizzard.

    Sentence #7012155 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 一帆风顺 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 一 (yī) drawn as one shape
一yīoneyì in 一帆风顺

一 is a single shape of 1 stroke. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidOne stroke for one, the way people once counted with rods.

The character 帆 (fān) with each of its parts in a different colour
帆fānsail
  • 巾napkin · jīnMeaning part
  • 凡any · fánSound part

巾 hints at the meaning (napkin); 凡 (fán) hints at the sound. Compare it with fān.

The character 风 (fēng) with each of its parts in a different colour
风fēngwind
  • 几table · jī
  • 乂to govern · yì

Memory aidSimplified from 風. Picture a sail 几 filled by the wind, with a swirl 乂 inside: wind.

The character 顺 (shùn) with each of its parts in a different colour
顺shùnto obey
  • 川stream · chuānSound part
  • 页page · xiéMeaning part

页 hints at the meaning (page); 川 (chuān) hints at the sound. Compare it with shùn.

How to write 一帆风顺

一 1 strokes · 帆 6 strokes · 风 4 strokes · 顺 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

一帆风顺 (yìfānfēngshùn) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 一帆风顺 (yìfānfēngshùn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 一帆风顺

Words with 一

一yī · one一半yībàn · half一些yīxiē · some一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little一起yìqǐ · together第一dìyī · first一下yíxià · (after a verb) briefly一般yìbān · general一定yídìng · surely一共yígòng · altogether

Words with 风

风fēng · wind刮风guāfēng · windy风险fēngxiǎn · risk风俗fēngsú · social custom风格fēnggé · style风景fēngjǐng · scenery麦克风màikèfēng · microphone (loanword)风味fēngwèi · local flavour风度fēngdù · manner风趣fēngqù · witty

Words with 顺

顺利shùnlì · smoothly顺便shùnbiàn · conveniently顺序shùnxù · sequence孝顺xiàoshùn · filial

More words: Ideas & Concepts

眼光yǎnguāng · vision要点yàodiǎn · main point要素yàosù · key element遗产yíchǎn · heritage依据yījù · basis一举两得yìjǔliǎngdé · to kill two birds with one stone隐患yǐnhuàn · hidden danger意图yìtú · intention

FAQs

一帆风顺 (yìfānfēngshùn) means “plain sailing” or “everything goes smoothly”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yìfānfēngshùn: yì with a 4th tone, then fān with a 1st tone, then fēng with a 1st tone, then shùn with a 4th tone. 一 is yī on its own. Before a fourth tone it becomes yí, and before the other tones yì. Textbooks write the change in, as here. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 一帆风顺 is written 一帆風順. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yifanfengshun with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 一帆风顺 from the suggestions. Typing yifanfengshun into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
一帆风顺 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.