一鼓作气
yī gǔ zuò qì · HSK 7
in a spurt of energy
🥁 一鼓作气 = one (一) + drum (鼓) + rouse (作) + spirit (气): one drumbeat rallies full energy
From ancient battle drums: the first roll roused troops to peak courage, so you charge in a single burst before momentum fades. Hence doing something in one decisive spurt of energy rather than dragging it out.
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.'
鼓 — 壴 (drum on stand) + 攴 (hand with stick)
鼓 is a pictograph showing a drum mounted on a stand (壴) being struck by a hand holding a stick (攴/支). It originally depicted the act of beating a drum, and the meaning naturally extended from the instrument itself to the verb 'to beat, to rouse, to encourage.'
作 — person radical 亻 + 乍
作 combines the person radical 亻 with 乍, which originally depicted a sudden action or making something. The character means 'to do, make, or create,' with 亻 indicating human activity and 乍 supplying the sound. Over time it broadened to cover works, deeds, and acting as something.
气 — steam/vapor radical 气
Originally a pictograph of rising vapor or clouds drifting in the sky, depicting curling streams of air. The character came to mean breath, air, and by extension vital energy or 'qi.' The simplified form 气 keeps the original outline; the traditional 氣 added 米 (rice) to suggest steam rising from cooking grain.