刨根

Mandarin · pinyin páo gēn

Meanings

  1. lit. to dig up the root
  2. to get to the heart of (the matter)
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Characters in this entry

刨
páo · carpenter's plane; plane, level
根
gēn · root, base(d on); foundation
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–1 · pao2 gen1

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

paau4 gan1

Cantonese word readings for 刨根. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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.

verb

  1. to get to the heart of (the matter), to cut to the chase

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

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