一 筹 莫 展

yī chóu mò zhǎndictionary entry

to be unable to find a solution / to be at wits' end

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-8301156977912030. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

一籌莫展一筹莫展 [yi1 chou2 mo4 zhan3] /to be unable to find a solution/to be at wits' end/

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: 一籌莫展

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
筹
chóu
chip (in gambling) / token (for counting) / ticket / to prepare / to plan / to raise (funds) / resource / way / means
莫
mò
do not / there is none who
Mò
surname Mo
展
zhǎn
to spread out / to open up / to exhibit / to put into effect / to postpone / to prolong / exhibition
Zhǎn
surname Zhan

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.