一连串
yīliánchuàn · HSK 7
a series of
🍢⛓️ 一 one + 连 link + 串 skewer = one linked skewer, a whole string of things in a row
串 chuàn is the skewer character: two boxes stabbed onto one vertical line, like food on a stick. With 一连 (one-link) it means a connected series threaded together one after another.
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.'
串 — two 口 boxes pierced by vertical line 丨
串 is a pictograph showing objects skewered together on a stick, like beads on a string or meat on a skewer. The two boxes represent items threaded onto the central vertical line. From this concrete image came the meanings 'string together,' 'skewer,' and the verb 'to link' or 'connect in a series.'