zimai字脈
LookupMandarin · 繁體 · English
Mandarin–English · CC-CEDICTSources ↗
DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

節外生枝

简 节外生枝 · 繁 節外生枝
Mandarin · pinyin jié wài shēng zhī

Meanings

  1. (idiom) new problems arise unexpectedly
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

節
Look up this written character
外
wài · out, outside, external; foreign
生
shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
枝
zhī · branches, limbs; branch off
节
jié · knot, node, joint; section
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Entries containing 節外生枝 ↗Words written with 節 ↗Words written with 外 ↗Words written with 生 ↗Words written with 枝 ↗Words written with 节 ↗

Mandarin tones

2–4–1–1 · jie2 wai4 sheng1 zhi1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zit3 ngoi6 sang1 zi1

Cantonese word readings for 節外生枝. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

zit3 ngoi6 sang1 zi1

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) new issues or troubles crop up from an already-existing problem

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack