络绎不绝
luò yì bù jué · HSK 7
in an endless stream
🐜 不绝 = not + severed; the line never gets cut off, so the stream is endless
络 (link) + 绎 (draw out continuously) + 不绝 (not severed) = a chain that keeps being pulled out and never breaks. Used for an unbroken flow of people or traffic, like ants filing along a trail one after another without gaps.
络 — silk radical 糹 + 各 (each, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the silk radical 糹 gives the meaning 'thread' or 'net', while 各 supplies the sound. Originally referring to fibers twisted into a net or web, it extended to mean 'network', 'to wind around', and by metaphor the body's meridians and connections.
不 — single pictograph; bird flying upward
Originally a pictograph in oracle bone script, traditionally interpreted as a bird flying up toward the sky and unable to come down, suggesting negation or refusal. Over time it became the standard negation word in Chinese, used before verbs and adjectives to mean 'not'.
绝 — silk 纟 + 巴 (phonetic-ish, knife cutting threads)
绝 originally depicted cutting silk threads with a knife, conveying the idea of severing or cutting off completely. From this concrete sense it extended to mean 'to break off,' 'exhausted,' and figuratively 'absolute' or 'extreme.' The simplified form replaced the older right-hand component with 巴.