争分夺秒 in English zheng1 fen1 duo2 miao3 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) fight minutes, snatch seconds (idiomatic expression); a race against time
  • making every second count

Simplified Characters

争 分 夺 秒

Traditional Characters

爭 分 奪 秒

Pinyin

zheng1 fen1 duo2 miao3

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

争zheng1to strive for 分fen1to divide 夺duo2to seize 秒miao3second (unit of time)