Chinese word dictionary

抽丝剥茧

chōu sī bō jiǎn · lit. to unwind the silk thread from the cocoon (idiom); fig. to unravel a mystery; to painstakingly follow the clues to eventually get to the bottom of the matter

Practice word

Word information

Simplified抽丝剥茧

Traditional抽絲剝繭

Pinyinchōu sī bō jiǎn

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.

抽chōu

to draw out, to pull out; to sprout

丝sī

silk, fine thread; wire; strings

剥bō

to peel, to skin; to exploit

茧jiǎn

cocoon; callus, blister

How to learn 抽丝剥茧

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.

抽chōu

to draw out; to pull out from in between; to remove part of the whole; (of certain plants) to sprout or bud; to whip or thrash

抽奖chōujiǎng

to draw a prize; a lottery; a raffle

抽象chōuxiàng

abstract; abstraction; CL:種|种[zhong3]

抽烟chōu yān

to smoke (a cigarette, tobacco)

剥bāo

to peel; to skin; to shell; to shuck

剥夺bōduó

to deprive; to expropriate; to strip (sb of his property)