一塌糊涂

一塌糊塗

yītā-hútú

idiom HSK 7-9 #6,924

Meanings

1 in a complete mess
2 in utter chaos
3 terribly (bad)

Characters

completely; utterly

muddled; paste-like

confused; messy

Examples

他的房间乱得一塌糊涂。

Tā de fángjiān luàn de yītāhútú.

His room is an absolute mess.

这次考试我考得一塌糊涂。

Zhècì kǎoshì wǒ kǎo de yītāhútú.

I did terribly on this exam.

Tips

memory

Picture something collapsing (塌) into a confused muddy paste (糊涂) — total hopeless chaos. Used as a complement after 得 to describe how badly something turned out.

Stroke Order

一 yī

塌 tā

糊 hú

涂 tú