lit. try to straighten out silk threads only to tangle them further (idiom); fig. to try to help but end up making things worse
trad. 治絲益棼
Also written 治絲益棼【zhì sī yì fén】
Characters in this word
4治
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to rule, to govern, to manage, to control, to harness (a river), to treat (a disease), to wipe out (a pest), to punish, to research
- Pinyin
- zhì
- Strokes
- 8
- Frequency
- 6571 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
益
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Yi
- Pinyin
- Yì
- Strokes
- 10
棼
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
beams in roof, confused
- Pinyin
- fén
- Strokes
- 12