追根溯源 zhuīgēnsùyuán to get to the bottom of something Origin Definitions Defs Strokes Stroke Words Sentences Sents 追根 zhuīgēn to get to the bottom of to trace something back to its source; to get to the root of a matter溯源 sùyuán to trace back to the source To trace a river upstream to its headwaters; also used to mean investigating the origin or root cause of something.