抽丝剥茧 / 抽絲剝繭

chōu​sī​bō​jiǎn

to unravel a mystery

to painstakingly follow clues to get to the bottom of a matter; to analyze a complex situation step by step to uncover the truth

chōu​sī​bāo​jiǎn

抽 (literal) → 抽 · chōu · to pull out 丝 (literal) → 丝/絲 · sī · silk 剥 (literal) → 剥/剝 · bāo · to peel 茧 (literal) → 茧/繭 · jiǎn · cocoon

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

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:57 PM