纷至沓来

紛至沓來

fēnzhì-tàlái

idiom #35,358

Meanings

1 to arrive in throngs
2 to come thick and fast
3 to pour in one after another

Characters

numerous; in profusion

to arrive; to reach

heaped; repeated

Examples

HSK 3

记者纷至沓来，把他围住。

Jìzhě fēnzhì-tàlái, bǎ tā wéizhù.

Reporters poured in and surrounded him.

HSK 5

获奖的消息一传开，祝贺纷至沓来。

Huòjiǎng de xiāoxi yī chuánkāi, zhùhè fēnzhì-tàlái.

As soon as news of the award spread, congratulations came flooding in.

HSK 7-9

新产品上市后，订单纷至沓来。

Xīn chǎnpǐn shàngshì hòu, dìngdān fēnzhì-tàlái.

After the new product launched, orders came pouring in.

Tips

history

Traced to Zhu Xi's 《答何叔京》 (Song): 事物纷至而沓来 - events crowding in one on top of another. 沓 (tà) means 'stacking/repeating', intensifying the sense of unbroken arrival.

register

Literary and formal. In speech you'd more often say 接二连三 or 一个接一个. 纷至沓来 belongs in newspapers, reports, and writing.

Stroke Order

纷 fēn

至 zhì

沓 dá

来 lái