三下五除二

sānxiàwǔchú'èr
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 in a flash, quickly and decisively
  2. 2 (literal) an abacus addition mnemonic ('three down, five minus two')

Examples

Tā sānxiàwǔchú'èr jiù bǎ fàn chī wán le.
He polished off his meal in a flash.
Shīfu sānxiàwǔchú'èr bǎ língjiàn zhuāng hǎo le.
The technician put the parts together in no time.

Tips

history
An abacus mnemonic for adding 3: '(slide) three down, then five-minus-two' achieves +3 on a column. Because 算盘 abacus calculations are famously fast, the chant became shorthand for doing anything 'in three quick moves'.
usage
Adverbial; pairs with + verb. The verb is usually a manual or short action — eating, packing, fixing, finishing.

Stroke Order

sān
xià
chú
èr