| 抽丝剥茧 |
chōu sī - bō jiǎn |
lit. to unwind the silk thread from the cocoon (idiom) / fig. to unravel a mystery; to painstakingly follow the clues to eventually get to the bottom of the matter |
| 抽 |
chōu |
to draw out / to pull out from in between / to remove part of the whole / (of certain plants) to sprout or bud / to whip or thrash |
| 抽丝 |
chōu sī |
to spin silk |
| 丝 |
sī |
silk / thread-like thing; (cuisine) shreds or julienne strips / classifier: a trace (of smoke etc), a tiny bit etc |
| 剥 |
bāo |
to peel / to skin / to shell / to shuck |
| 剥 |
bō |
to peel / to skin / to flay / to shuck |
| 茧 |
jiǎn |
(bound form) cocoon / (bound form) callus (variant of 趼) |
| 茧 |
jiǎn |
variant of 茧 |