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): ㄔㄡ ㄙ ㄅㄛ ㄐㄧㄢˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): cau¹ si¹ mok¹ gaan²
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): thiu-si-pak-kián

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: chōusībōjiǎn
    • Zhuyin: ㄔㄡ ㄙ ㄅㄛ ㄐㄧㄢˇ
    • 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/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thiu-si-pak-kián
    • Tâi-lô: thiu-si-pak-kián
    • Phofsit Daibuun: tiusi'pakkiern
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /tʰiu⁴⁴⁻³³ si⁴⁴⁻³³ pak̚³²⁻⁴ kiɛn⁴¹/
    • IPA (Taipei): /tʰiu⁴⁴⁻³³ si⁴⁴⁻³³ pak̚³²⁻⁴ kiɛn⁵³/

Idiom

抽絲剝繭

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