大吃一惊 (dà chī yī jīng)

Character breakdown

• 大 (dà) · 3 strokes

  Depicts an adult man facing forward and standing erect. The meaning later shifted to "big".

• 吃 (chī) · 6 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 乞 represents the sound.

• 一 (yī) · 1 strokes

  A single horizontal stroke, representing the number one.

• 惊 (jīng) · 11 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 忄 represents the meaning and 京 represents the sound. Simplified form of 驚.