Chinese word dictionary

吹毛求疵

chuī máo qiú cī · lit. to blow apart the hairs upon a fur to discover any defect (idiom); fig. to be fastidious; nitpick

Practice word

Word information

Simplified吹毛求疵

Traditional吹毛求疵

Pinyinchuī máo qiú cī

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

吹chuī

to blow, to puff; to brag, to boast

毛máo

hair, fur, feathers; coarse

求qiú

to seek; to request, to demand; to beseech, to beg for

疵cī

flaw, fault, defect; disease

How to learn 吹毛求疵

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

毛máo

hair; feather; down; wool; mildew; mold; coarse or semifinished; young; raw; careless; unthinking; nervous; scared; (of currency) to devalue or depreciate; classifier for Chinese fractional monetary unit ( = 角[jiao3] , = one-tenth of a yuan or 10 fen 分[fen1]); surname Mao

要求yāoqiú

to request; to require; requirement; to stake a claim; to ask; to demand; CL:點|点[dian3]

羽毛球yǔmáoqiú

badminton; shuttlecock

吹chuī

to blow; to play a wind instrument; to blast; to puff; to boast; to brag; to end in failure; to fall through

毛巾máojīn

towel; CL:條|条[tiao2]

毛衣máoyī

(wool) sweater; CL:件[jian4]