對症下藥
简 对症下药 · 繁 對症下藥Meanings
- lit. to prescribe the right medicine for an illness (idiom); fig. to study a problem to find the right way to solve it
- to take appropriate steps
Characters in this entry
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4–4–4–4 · dui4 zheng4 xia4 yao4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
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.
對症下藥 · find source passages ↗ · 对症下药 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
deoi3 zing3 haa6 joek6
Cantonese word readings for 對症下藥. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
phrase
- (idiomatic) to suit the medicine to the illness; to suit the remedy to the case; to prescribe the right remedy for an illness
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack