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一部二十四史，不知从何说起

yī bù èr shí sì shǐ , bù zhī cóng hé shuō qǐdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
It's a long and intricate story, I hardly know where to start.
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-7546ec1407c20422. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

一部二十四史，不知從何說起 一部二十四史，不知从何说起 [yi1 bu4 er4 shi2 si4 shi3 , bu4 zhi1 cong2 he2 shuo1 qi3] /It's a long and intricate story, I hardly know where to start./

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: 一部二十四史，不知從何說起

  • 一
    yī

    one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire / whole / all / throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit

  • 部
    bù

    ministry / department / section / part / division / troops / board / classifier for works of literature, films, machines etc

  • 二
    èr

    two / 2 / (Beijing dialect) stupid

  • 十
    shí

    ten / 10

  • 四
    sì

    four / 4

  • 史
    shǐ

    history / annals / title of an official historian in ancient China

    Shǐ

    surname Shi

  • 不
    bù

    no / not so / (bound form) not / un-

  • 知
    zhī

    to know / to be aware

  • 从
    cóng

    from / through / via / (bound form) to follow / (bound form) to obey / (bound form) to engage in (an activity) / (used before a negative) ever / (bound form) (Taiwan pr. [zòng]) retainer / attendant / (bound form) (Taiwan pr. [zòng]) assistant / auxiliary / subordinate / (bound form) (Taiwan pr. [zòng]) related by common paternal grandfather or earlier ancestor

    Cóng

    surname Cong

  • 何
    hé

    what / how / why / which / carry

    Hé

    surname He

  • 说
    shuì

    to persuade

    shuō

    to speak / to talk / to say / to explain / to comment / to scold / to tell off / (bound form) theory / doctrine

  • 起
    qǐ

    to rise / to raise / to get up / to set out / to start / to appear / to launch / to initiate (action) / to draft / to establish / to get (from a depot or counter) / verb suffix, to start / starting from (a time, place, price etc) / classifier for occurrences or unpredictable events: case, instance / classifier for groups: batch, group

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.