死 结 难 解

sǐ jié nán jiědictionary entry

enigmatic knot hard to untie (idiom) / thorny problem / intractable difficulty

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-96c8930db6370b2f. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

死結難解 死结难解 [si3 jie2 nan2 jie3] /enigmatic knot hard to untie (idiom); thorny problem/intractable difficulty/

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: 死結難解

死
sǐ
to die / impassable / uncrossable / inflexible / rigid / extremely / damned
结
jiē
(of a plant) to produce (fruit or seeds) / Taiwan pr. [jié]
jié
knot / sturdy / bond / to tie / to bind / to check out (of a hotel)
难
nán
difficult (to...) / problem / difficulty / difficult / not good
nàn
disaster / distress / to scold
解
jiě
to divide / to break up / to split / to separate / to dissolve / to solve / to melt / to remove / to untie / to loosen / to open / to emancipate / to explain / to understand / to know / a solution / a dissection
jiè
to transport under guard
xiè
acrobatic display (esp. on horseback) (old)
Xiè
surname Xie

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.