to bend to a task and spare no effort unto one's dying day (idiom) / striving to the utmost one's whole life / with every breath in one's body, unto one's dying day
lit. to hope one's son becomes a dragon (idiom) / fig. to long for one' s child to succeed in life / to have great hopes for one's offspring / to give one's child the best education as a career investment
to put one's hands behind one's head, fingers interlaced / to hold one's head in one's hands (in dismay, fright etc) / to cover one's head with one's hands (for protection)
(bound form) whole / complete / entire / (before a measure word) whole / (before or after number + measure word) exactly / (bound form) in good order / tidy / neat / (bound form) to put in order / to straighten / (bound form) to repair / to mend / to renovate / (coll.) to fix sb / to give sb a hard time / to mess with sb / (dialect) to tinker with / to do sth to
to erect (a tent etc) / to prick up (one's ears) / to raise (one's eyebrows) / to stick up (one's thumb) / to turn up (one's collar) / (of a bird) to puff up (one's feathers)
to change one's tune / to modify one's previous remark / to change the way one addresses sb (as when one marries and starts to call one's husband's parents 爸爸[ba4 ba5] and 媽媽|妈妈[ma1 ma5])
one's age, according to the traditional Chinese method of reckoning (i.e. the number of Chinese calendar years in which one has lived) – In this system, a person's age at birth is one, and increases by one at the beginning of the first solar term 立春[Li4 chun1] each year, rather than on one's birthday. / contrasted with 實歲|实岁[shi2 sui4]
(a line from a poem by the Tang poet Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫|刘禹锡[Liu2 Yu3 xi1]) one gains very little insight into one's enemy from a hundred victories, but he who breaks his arm three times will be a good doctor / (fig.) one learns more from one's failures than from one's successes
life is motion (popular saying with many possible interpretations) / Physical effort is vital for our bodies to function (Aristotle). / Life derives from physical exercise.
half dead (of torment, hunger, tiredness etc) / (tired) to death / (terrified) out of one's wits / (beaten) to within an inch of one's life / (knock) the daylights out of sb
lit. to lead the life of a whore but still want a monument put up to one's chastity (idiom) / fig. to have bad intentions but still want a good reputation / to want to have one's cake and eat it too
only have ... / there is only ... / (used in combination with 才[cai2]) it is only if one ... (that one can ...) (Example: 只有通過治療才能痊愈|只有通过治疗才能痊愈[zhi3 you3 tong1 guo4 zhi4 liao2 cai2 neng2 quan2 yu4] "the only way to cure it is with therapy") / it is only ... (who ...) (Example: 只有男性才有此需要[zhi3 you3 nan2 xing4 cai2 you3 ci3 xu1 yao4] "only men would have such a requirement") / (used to indicate that one has no alternative) one can only (do a certain thing) (Example: 只有屈服[zhi3 you3 qu1 fu2] "the only thing you can do is give in")
to belong to / to be affiliated to / to fall under the jurisdiction of / a place where one feels that one belongs / one's final destination (where one need look no further)
(of alcohol, love etc) to go to one’s head / (of an idea, a song etc) to get into one's head / to capture one's attention / (old) (of a girl on her wedding day) to start wearing one's hair in a bun (rather than a plait)
to assess one's capabilities and act accordingly (idiom) / to act within one's competence / One does what one can.
The four tones
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