十万火急

十萬火急
shíwàn-huǒjí
idiom #23,323

Meanings

  1. 1 extremely urgent
  2. 2 most urgent
  3. 3 emergency (posthaste)

Examples

HSK 4
Zhè shì shíwàn-huǒjí de rènwù, bìxū lìjí chūfā.
This is an extremely urgent mission. We must leave immediately.
HSK 7-9
Qiánxiàn fā lái shíwàn-huǒjí de diànbào.
An extremely urgent telegram arrived from the front line.

Tips

history
十万火急 comes from ancient military dispatch systems. Messages were categorized by urgency; 十万 (100,000) was hyperbolic for 'countless', while 火急 (fire-urgent) implied the message should travel as fast as fire spreads.

Stroke Order

shí
wàn
huǒ