一 板 三 眼

yī bǎn sān yǎndictionary entry

lit. one strong beat and three weak beats in a measure of music (four beats in the bar) (idiom) / fig. scrupulous attention to detail

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-f4053c4603224491. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

一板三眼 一板三眼 [yi1 ban3 san1 yan3] /lit. one strong beat and three weak beats in a measure of music (four beats in the bar) (idiom); fig. scrupulous attention to detail/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

一
yī
one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire / whole / all / throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
板
bǎn
board / plank / plate / shutter / table tennis bat / clappers (music) / CL:塊|块[kuài] / accented beat in Chinese music / hard / stiff / to stop smiling or look serious / used in 老闆|老板[lǎo bǎn]
pàn
to catch sight of in a doorway (old)
三
sān
three / 3
Sān
surname San
眼
yǎn
eye (CL:隻|只[zhī],雙|双[shuāng]) / (often used with 一[yī]) a look / a glance / small hole / (bound form) salient point / classifier for wells, cave-dwellings etc

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.