DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

咬文嚼字

Mandarin · pinyin yǎo wén jiáo zì

to bite words and chew characters (idiom); punctilious about minutiae of wording

Characters in this entry

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

3–2–2–4 · yao3 wen2 jiao2 zi4

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

4character links

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

ngaau5 man4 zoek3 zi6

Cantonese word readings for 咬文嚼字. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

(idiomatic) to bite on phrases and chew on characters; to pay excessive attention to wording and choice of characters; to nitpick like a grammar Nazi; to talk pedantically