DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

一板一眼

Mandarin · pinyin yī bǎn yī yǎn

lit. one strong beat and one weak beats in a measure of music (two beats in the bar) (idiom); fig. follow a prescribed pattern to the letter
scrupulous attention to detail

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

一: yī · one; a, an; alone
板: bǎn · plank, board; iron or tin plate
眼: yǎn · eye; eyelet, hole, opening

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–3–1–3 · yi1 ban3 yi1 yan3

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

3character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

一板一眼 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(figuratively) following a prescribed pattern in speech or action; scrupulous and methodical

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack