一连
yīlián · HSK 7
in a row
🔗 一连 = 一 (one) + 连 (link/connect): things linked one after another in a row
连 means to link or join; with 一 it marks a single unbroken chain of events. 一连三天 = three days running, one linked to the next.
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.'
连 — 辶 (walk) + 车 (cart/vehicle)
Originally a compound of the 'walk/movement' radical 辶 and 车 (cart), depicting carts moving in succession along a road. From this came the core sense of things linked or following one after another, extending to modern meanings like 'connect,' 'join,' and 'continuous.'