连夜
lián yè · HSK 7
through the night
🌙 连 connect/in-a-row + 夜 night = nights linked together, so right through the night
连 means to link or do in a row, 夜 is night. Linked nights gives both senses: acting that same night without stopping, or several nights running.
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.'
夜 — 亠 lid + 亻 person + 夕 evening moon
夜 originally depicted a person (亻) under a roof (亠) with the moon (夕) beside them, evoking nighttime rest. The moon component 夕 carries the meaning of evening, while the surrounding elements set the scene of a person at night. Over time it came to mean 'night' in general.