HSK 6 · Adjectives

一丝不苟 yìsībùgǒu “meticulous” in Chinese

Traditional 一絲不苟

What 一丝不苟 means

  1. meticulous
  2. scrupulous
  3. not one thread loose (idiom)
  4. strictly according to the rules
  5. not one hair out of place

How to say 一丝不苟

  • 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丝sī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale不bù4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale苟gǒu3rd tone, dipping

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

一丝不苟 in a sentence

  1. 他做事一丝不苟。

    Tā zuòshì yìsībùgǒu.

    He’s meticulous in everything he does.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 老师一丝不苟地批改每一份作业。

    Lǎoshī yìsībùgǒu de pīgǎi měi yí fèn zuòyè.

    The teacher marks every piece of homework with great care.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 一丝不苟 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 一丝不苟

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 丝 (sī) drawn as one shape
丝sīsilk

丝 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 不 (bù) drawn as one shape
不bùno; not so

不 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidPicture a bar 一 across the top that nothing below can get past: not, no.

The character 苟 (gǒu) with each of its parts in a different colour
苟gǒuif indeed
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎoMeaning part
  • 句sentence · jùSound part

艹 hints at the meaning (grass); 句 (jù) hints at the sound. Compare it with gǒu.

How to write 一丝不苟

一 1 strokes · 丝 5 strokes · 不 4 strokes · 苟 8 strokes

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

一丝不苟 (yìsībùgǒu) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 一丝不苟 (yìsībùgǒu). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 一丝不苟

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 丝

丝毫sīháo · the slightest amount or degree丝绸sīchóu · silk cloth

Words with 不

不bù · no不要bùyào · don’t!不客气bú kèqi · you’re welcome对不起duìbuqǐ · sorry不错bùcuò · not bad不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed不但búdàn · not only不同bùtóng · different不少bùshǎo · quite a few不见bújiàn · to be missing

More words: Adjectives

隐蔽yǐnbì · hidden英明yīngmíng · wise英勇yīngyǒng · heroic隐约yǐnyuē · faint永恒yǒnghéng · eternal庸俗yōngsú · vulgar踊跃yǒngyuè · eager有条不紊yǒutiáobùwěn · orderly

FAQs

一丝不苟 (yìsībùgǒu) means “meticulous” or “scrupulous”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yìsībùgǒu: yì with a 4th tone, then sī with a 1st tone, then bù with a 4th tone, then gǒu with a 3rd 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, 一丝不苟 is written 一絲不苟. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yisibugou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 一丝不苟 from the suggestions. Typing yisibugou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
一丝不苟 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.