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分身乏術

简分身乏术 · 繁分身乏術

Mandarin · pinyin fēn shēn fá shù

to be up to one's ears in work (idiom)
to be unable to attend to other things at the same time

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Characters in this entry

分: fēn · divide; small unit of time etc.
身: shēn · body; trunk, hull; Kangxi radical 158
乏: fá · lack; poor
術: Look up this written character
术: shù · art, skill, special feat; method, technique

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–2–4 · fen1 shen1 fa2 shu4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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分身乏術 · find source passages ↗ · 分身乏术 · find source passages ↗

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to be extremely busy that one is unable to handle other things

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

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