大包大揽
dà bāo dà lǎn · HSK 7
to take complete charge (idiom)
🎒 big wrap + big grab — one person bundles up ALL the work
大 (big) + 包 (wrap/package) + 大 (big) + 揽 (pull in/grab). Someone who wraps everything into one big package and grabs every task, leaving nothing for anyone else.
大 — pictograph of a person with arms outstretched
大 is a pictograph showing a person standing with arms and legs spread wide. The outstretched arms suggest 'big' or 'great', extending from the literal image of a large stance to abstract meanings like important or grand. It is one of the oldest characters, found on oracle bones.
包 — 勹 wrap + 巳 fetus
包 is a pictograph showing a fetus (巳) wrapped inside a womb (勹, an enclosing shape). The original sense was 'to wrap' or 'enclose,' and it later extended to mean a bundle, package, or bag. It also serves as a phonetic component in many characters like 抱, 泡, and 饱.
大 — pictograph of a person with arms outstretched
大 is a pictograph showing a person standing with arms and legs spread wide. The outstretched arms suggest 'big' or 'great', extending from the literal image of a large stance to abstract meanings like important or grand. It is one of the oldest characters, found on oracle bones.
揽 — hand radical 扌 + 览 (lǎn, to view)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 supplies the meaning 'to grasp, gather in,' while 览 (lǎn) gives the sound. The simplified form reduces the traditional 攬, but the logic is the same — a hand pulling things together, extended to senses like 'embrace,' 'monopolize,' or 'take charge of.'