| 一言难尽 |
yī yán nán jìn |
hard to explain in a few words (idiom); complicated and not easy to express succinctly |
| 一 |
yī |
one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire; whole; all; throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit |
| 一言 |
yī yán |
one sentence / brief remark |
| 言 |
yán |
words / speech / to say / to talk |
| 难 |
nán |
difficult (to...) / problem / difficulty / difficult / not good |
| 难 |
nàn |
disaster / distress / to scold |
| 尽 |
jǐn |
to the greatest extent / (when used before a noun of location) furthest or extreme / to be within the limits of / to give priority to |
| 尽 |
jìn |
to use up / to exhaust / to end / to finish / to the utmost / exhausted / finished / to the limit (of sth) / all / entirely |