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橫生枝節

简横生枝节 · 繁橫生枝節

Mandarin · pinyin héng shēng zhī jié

to deliberately complicate an issue (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

橫: Look up this written character
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
枝: zhī · branches, limbs; branch off
節: Look up this written character
横: héng · across
节: jié · knot, node, joint; section

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–1–2 · heng2 sheng1 zhi1 jie2

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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.

橫生枝節 · find source passages ↗ · 横生枝节 · 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 raise unexpected difficulties; to deliberately complicate an issue

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

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