Chinese word

一大早

Pronunciation

Pinyinyī dà zǎo

Meaning

  • adverbearly in the morning

Example

她一大早就开始工作了。tā yí dà zǎo jiù kāi shǐ gōng zuò le

She started work early in the morning.

Illustration for 一大早 (early in the morning)

More examples

妈妈一大早去市场买菜了。mā mā yí dà zǎo qù shì chǎng mǎi cài le

Mom went to the market early in the morning to buy vegetables.

Core concept

Puts an action at the very front edge of the morning, before the day's activities have fully begun.

Common phrases

  • 一大早起床yí dà zǎo qǐ chuáng

    get up early in the morning

  • 一大早去市场yí dà zǎo qù shì chǎng

    go to the market early in the morning

  • 一大早开会yí dà zǎo kāi huì

    attend a meeting early in the morning

Similar words

一早yì zǎo: Early in the morning, with an action starting without delay.
清早qīng zǎo: At an early morning time, close to dawn.
一清早yì qīng zǎo: At the very early time just after dawn.

Definition in Chinese

强调在清晨就已发生或开始的动作或情况，常与“就”等词连用，属口语。qiáng diào zài qīng chén jiù yǐ fā shēng huò kāi shǐ de dòng zuò huò qíng kuàng cháng yǔ jiù děng cí lián yòng shǔ kóu yǔ

Word origin

一 (yī, "one") + 大 (dà, "big") + 早 (zǎo, "early") forms a colloquial time expression, with 大 strengthening the sense of an especially early morning.

Usage tips

  • The phrase can carry mild surprise or complaint when an event starts unusually early, so its tone depends on the surrounding conversation rather than on the time alone.

Other meanings

  • from early in the morningadverb

Opposites

  • 很晚hěn wǎnlateadverb

Word lists with this word