抽絲剝繭

Chinese

			peel; to skin	cocoon
trad. (抽絲剝繭)		抽絲	剝	繭
simp. (抽丝剥茧)		抽丝	剥	茧
Literally: “to peel the cocoon (of a silkworm) by unraveling the (raw) silk thread from which it was spun”.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): chōusībōjiǎn

(Zhuyin): ㄔㄡㄙㄅㄛㄐㄧㄢˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): cau¹ si¹ mok¹ gaan²
Min Nan (Hokkien, POJ): thiu-si-pak-kián

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: chōusībōjiǎn
  - Zhuyin: ㄔㄡㄙㄅㄛㄐㄧㄢˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: chousihbojiǎn
  - Wade–Giles: chʻou¹-ssŭ¹-po¹-chien³
  - Yale: chōu-sz̄-bwō-jyǎn
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chousybojean
  - Palladius: чоусыбоцзянь (čousyboczjanʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʰoʊ̯⁵⁵ sz̩⁵⁵ pu̯ɔ⁵⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɛn²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: cau¹ si¹ mok¹ gaan²
  - Yale: chāu sī mōk gáan
  - Cantonese Pinyin: tsau¹ si¹ mok⁷ gaan²
  - Guangdong Romanization: ceo¹ xi¹ mog¹ gan²
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰɐu̯⁵⁵ siː⁵⁵ mɔːk̚⁵ kaːn³⁵/
Min Nan
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thiu-si-pak-kián
  - Tâi-lô: thiu-si-pak-kián
  - Phofsit Daibuun: tiusi'pakkiern
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /tʰiu⁴⁴⁻³³ ɕi⁴⁴⁻³³ pak̚³²⁻⁴ kiɛn⁴¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /tʰiu⁴⁴⁻³³ ɕi⁴⁴⁻³³ pak̚³²⁻⁴ kiɛn⁵³/

Idiom

抽絲剝繭

to painstakingly get to the bottom of something; to struggle to understand a convoluted argument or issue

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