三天两头

三天兩頭

sāntiānliǎngtóu

idiom #76,174

Meanings

1 every other day
2 frequently; constantly
3 all the time

Characters

end; head; occurrence

Examples

他三天两头来我家蹭饭。

Tā sān tiān liǎng tóu lái wǒ jiā cèng fàn.

He's at my place freeloading meals every other day.

这台旧电脑三天两头出问题。

Zhè tái jiù diànnǎo sān tiān liǎng tóu chū wèntí.

This old computer runs into problems every other day.

三天两头加班，身体吃不消。

Sān tiān liǎng tóu jiābān, shēntǐ chī bu xiāo.

Working overtime every other day — the body can't take it.

Tips

register

Colloquial, everyday speech. Almost always used with a negative or grumbling tone — something inconvenient happening too often.

grammar

Adverbial: placed before a verb to show frequency. 'Three days, two heads' is colloquial shorthand for 'within three days, two times/ends' — i.e. nearly every day.

Stroke Order

三 sān

天 tiān

两 liǎng

头 tóu