破 茧 成 蝶

pò jiǎn chéng diédictionary entry

lit. to break through a cocoon and turn into a butterfly (idiom) / fig. to emerge strong after a period of struggle / to get to a better place after going through difficult period

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-601e9aae0608a904. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

破繭成蝶 破茧成蝶 [po4 jian3 cheng2 die2] /lit. to break through a cocoon and turn into a butterfly (idiom)/fig. to emerge strong after a period of struggle/to get to a better place after going through difficult period/

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: 破繭成蝶

破
pò
broken / damaged / worn out / lousy / rotten / to break, split or cleave / to get rid of / to destroy / to break with / to defeat / to capture (a city etc) / to expose the truth of
茧
jiǎn
(bound form) cocoon / (bound form) callus (variant of 趼[jiǎn])
成
chéng
to succeed / to finish / to complete / to accomplish / to become / to turn into / to be all right / OK! / one tenth
Chéng
surname Cheng / short name for Chengdu 成都[Chéng dū]
蝶
dié
(bound form) butterfly

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.