万变不离其宗
wàn​biàn​bù​lí​qí​zōng

to remain essentially the same

  • created sense approved 万变不离其宗/萬變不離其宗 · wàn​biàn​bù​lí​qí​zōng · to remain essentially the same — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    万变不离其宗 / 萬變不離其宗

    wàn​biàn​bù​lí​qí​zōng

    to remain essentially the same

    remain essentially the same despite many apparent changes; many superficial changes but no departure from the original core

    万 (literal) → 万/萬 · wàn · countless 变 (literal) → 变/變 · biàn · to change 不 (literal) → 不 · bù · not 离 (literal) → 离/離 · lí · to leave 其 (literal) → 其 · qí · [third-person possessive] 宗 (literal) → 宗 · zōng · purpose

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense