一锅粥

一鍋粥
yīguōzhōu
noun HSK 7-9 #31,385

Meanings

  1. 1 a total mess; a chaotic muddle

Characters

Literally 'a pot of porridge' - everything is mixed together in an indistinguishable mush, just like congee where you can't tell the individual grains apart.

Examples

HSK 3
Huìyì kāi chéng le yīguōzhōu, dàjiā chǎo chéng yìtuán.
The meeting turned into chaos, everyone was arguing.
HSK 5
Zhěnggè xiàngmù gǎo de yīguōzhōu.
The whole project is a total mess.
HSK 5
Bié bǎ shìqing gǎo chéng yīguōzhōu.
Don't make a mess of things.

Tips

memory
Picture a pot of congee () - everything is boiled down into a mushy, indistinguishable mess. That's exactly what 一锅粥 describes: a situation where everything is confused and mixed up beyond recognition.

Stroke Order

guō
zhōu