一早

• Pinyin: yī zǎo
• Hanzi breakdown: 一 = right at/the very (intensifier); 早 = 日 + 十 (sun + upright mark — the sun just rising, early morning)

Meaning

Early in the morning; first thing in the morning. Can also mean 'from the very start' or 'long ago/already early on' in colloquial usage, particularly in southern dialects.

Used temporally for actions taken at an early hour: 一早起床 (getting up early in the morning). In southern Chinese and Hong Kong usage, 一早 also functions to mean 'already from the outset' or 'long before now': 我一早就知道了 (I knew about it long ago/from early on). Context disambiguates the two senses.

Examples

1. 他一早就来到了公司，把会议室里的白板擦得干干净净，在上面写满了当天讨论要点的提纲。 He came to the office first thing in the morning, wiped the meeting room whiteboard clean, and filled it with an outline of the day’s discussion points.
2. 菜市场的摊主们一早便架起摊位，趁着早晨的人流高峰售出当天最新鲜的食材。 The vendors at the farmers’ market set up their stalls early in the morning to sell the freshest ingredients of the day during the morning rush.
3. 她其实一早便察觉到了团队内部的矛盾，只是一直等待合适的时机才提出来统一解决。 She had actually noticed the conflicts within the team early on, but kept waiting for the right moment to bring them up and resolve them together.

Usage Guide

Context: daily life, narrative, colloquial, description

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 救援队队长一早便率队抵达了滑坡现场，指挥队员对废墟进行系统性搜索，确保每一个可能的生命迹象都得到及时响应。(The rescue team leader arrived at the landslide site with the team early in the morning, directing members to conduct a systematic search of the rubble to ensure every possible sign of life received a timely response.)
• 这项政策漏洞其实一早便被行业协会的法务团队发现并上报，只是相关部门未予重视，才最终演变成大规模的合规危机。(This policy loophole was in fact discovered and reported by the industry association's legal team long ago from the outset; it was only because the relevant authorities paid it no attention that it eventually developed into a large-scale compliance crisis.)

Don't Say

• 我一早起来很晚 — 一早 implies early in the morning; saying one got up very late at 一早 is self-contradictory; use 今天起晚了 or 一觉睡到大中午

Origin & History

一 (right at/the very — intensifier) + 早 (early/morning — 日 sun + 十 upright mark; the sun just cresting the horizon, early morning)

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal