惊天动地 (jīng tiān dòng dì)

Character breakdown

• 惊 (jīng) · 11 strokes

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

• 天 (tiān) · 4 strokes

  Depicts a person (大) with an emphasized head. Based on the original meaning "head". The meaning later shifted to "top", "high", and "sky".

• 动 (dòng) · 6 strokes

  Simplified form of 動. Phonosemantic compound. 力 represents the meaning. The sound component 重 was simplified to 云.

• 地 (de) · 6 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 也 represents the sound.

Usage

这是一个惊天动地的大事件。

world-shaking (idiom)

zhè shì yí gè jīng tiān dòng dì de dà shì jiàn 。