十万火急

十萬火急
shíwànhuǒjí
idiom #23,323

Meanings

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

Examples

Zhè shì shíwànhuǒjí de rènwù, bìxū lìjí chūfā.
This is an extremely urgent mission — we must leave immediately.
Qiánxiàn fā lái shíwànhuǒjí 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 (fire-urgent) implied the message should travel as fast as fire spreads.

Stroke Order

shí
wàn
huǒ