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搜索枯腸

简搜索枯肠 · 繁搜索枯腸

Mandarin · pinyin sōu suǒ kū cháng

to rack one's brains (for apt wording etc) (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

搜: sōu · search, seek; investigate
索: suǒ · large rope, cable; rules, laws; to demand, to exact; to search, inquire; isolated
枯: kū · dried out, withered, decayed
腸: Look up this written character
肠: cháng · intestines; emotions; sausage

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–2 · sou1 suo3 ku1 chang2

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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.

搜索枯腸 · find source passages ↗ · 搜索枯肠 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sau2 saak3 fu1 coeng4

Cantonese word readings for 搜索枯腸. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to rack one's brain; to think extremely hard

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

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