万里挑一
wàn lǐ tiāo yī
one in ten thousand; the pick of a huge field
Character by character
万wàn
ten thousand
ten thousand
里lǐ
among
among
挑tiāo
pick
pick
一yī
one
one
Example
她是从一万多名报考者里选出来的，真可以说是万里挑一。
She was chosen from more than ten thousand applicants: truly one in ten thousand.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
Praises a person who is outstanding (万里挑一的好姑娘) or stresses how fierce a selection is. 千里挑一 and 百里挑一 are the milder versions.
Learn this in Lesson 63 · HSK 6: 考公热 (The rush for government jobs)
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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