独占鳌头
dú zhàn áo tóu
to come first; to beat everyone else
Character by character
独dú
alone
alone
占zhàn
occupy
occupy
鳌áo
giant turtle’s
giant turtle’s
头tóu
head
head
Example
在这次全国比赛中，我们学校独占鳌头，拿了三个第一。
Our school came out on top at this national competition, with three first places.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
From the imperial exams: the steps of the palace were carved with a giant sea turtle (鳌), and the top scholar (状元) stood on its head when the results were read out. Now for any contest, ranking or market.
Learn this in Lesson 23 · HSK 5: 国球：乒乓球 (Ping-pong, the national game)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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