一塌糊涂
- Literal
- all caved in and turned to paste
- Figurative
- A complete mess, with no order and no fixing it; used of a room in chaos, a job botched, or a situation fallen apart.
Where does 一塌糊涂 come from?
No origin story or classical text lies behind it: it is a colloquial expression that settled into modern written Chinese. 一塌 suggests something collapsing all at once, and 糊涂 the thick, murky paste from which it gets its sense of "muddled, befuddled." Together they paint a mess beyond repair. The tone is usually negative, though in casual speech it also works as a plain intensifier after 得, even with positive adjectives: 好得一塌糊涂 means "insanely good."
How is 一塌糊涂 used? Two examples
- 这次活动组织得一塌糊涂，谁也不知道该做什么。
The whole event was a complete shambles; nobody knew what they were supposed to be doing.
- 那次考试我考得一塌糊涂，回家都不敢说。
I bombed that exam completely; I didn't even dare mention it at home.
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