杂七杂八

雜七雜八
záqīzábā
idiom #31,641

Meanings

  1. 1 all sorts of mixed stuff
  2. 2 miscellaneous; a hodgepodge
  3. 3 a bit of everything

Examples

Tā de bāo lǐ zhuāngzhe záqīzábā de dōngxi.
Her bag is stuffed with all sorts of odds and ends.
Tā měitiān chǔlǐ záqīzábā de shìqing, gēnběn méi shíjiān xiūxí.
He deals with all kinds of odds and ends every day, with no time to rest at all.

Tips

memory
An ABAC pattern: (zá, 'mixed') is reduplicated, and (seven) and (eight) play the same role as English 'six and seven' / 'all sorts'. The numbers don't mean anything literal — they just signal jumbled multiplicity.
register
Colloquial. Compare formal 五花八门 'all kinds' (more neutral / variety) and 乱七八糟 (luànqībāzāo) 'a complete mess' (more negative).

Stroke Order