一般来说
yībānláishuō · HSK 4
generally speaking
💬 一般 = general + 来说 = come-speak; literally 'generally come-to-say'
一般 (yībān) means 'general/ordinary' and 来说 (láishuō) is a fixed pattern meaning 'speaking of'. Together: 'generally speaking'. The 来 (come) + 说 (speak) combo is a common Chinese frame for stating a perspective.
一 — single horizontal stroke
一 is one of the simplest pictographs in Chinese, depicting a single horizontal line to represent the number one. It has retained essentially the same form since oracle bone script over 3,000 years ago. By extension it also means 'first,' 'whole,' or 'same.'
来 — pictograph of a wheat plant with grain heads
来 originally depicted a stalk of wheat with drooping grain heads, and meant 'wheat' in oracle bone script. It was later borrowed phonetically to write the unrelated verb 'to come,' which became its dominant meaning. The original 'wheat' sense was taken over by 麥 (now 麦).
说 — speech radical 讠(言) + 兑
说 combines the speech radical 讠(言, 'words') with 兑, which acts as the phonetic component. The character originally meant 'to explain' or 'to speak,' and broadened to mean 'say' or 'talk.' The same graph is also read 'yuè' meaning 'pleased,' a sense later written 悦.