(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
trad. 抽絲剝繭
Also written 抽絲剝繭【chōu sī bō jiǎn】
Characters in this word
4抽
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to draw out; to pull out from in between, to remove part of the whole, to inhale (esp. smoke), (of fabric etc) to shrink, (of certain plants) to sprout; to bud, to whip; to thrash, classifier for sheets (of tissues, wet wipes etc)
- Pinyin
- chōu
- Strokes
- 8
- Frequency
- 2029 of 2500
丝
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
silk, thread-like thing; (cuisine) shreds or julienne strips, classifier: a trace (of smoke etc), a tiny bit etc
- Pinyin
- sī
- Traditional
- 絲
- Strokes
- 5
- Frequency
- 3969 of 2500
剥
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to peel, to skin, to shell, to shuck
- Pinyin
- bāo
- Traditional
- 剝
- Strokes
- 10
- Frequency
- 14362 of 2500
茧
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
(bound form) cocoon, (bound form) callus (variant of 趼[jian3])
- Pinyin
- jiǎn
- Traditional
- 繭
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 26066 of 2500