抽 丝 剥 茧

chōu sī bō jiǎndictionary entry

(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

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-29432647e7f5c091. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

抽絲剝繭 抽丝剥茧 [chou1 si1 bo1 jian3] /(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/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 抽絲剝繭

抽
chōu
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)
丝
sī
silk / thread-like thing / (cuisine) shreds or julienne strips / classifier: a trace (of smoke etc), a tiny bit etc
剥
bāo
to peel / to skin / to shell / to shuck
bō
to peel / to skin / to flay / to shuck
茧
jiǎn
(bound form) cocoon / (bound form) callus (variant of 趼[jiǎn])

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.