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節外生枝

简节外生枝 · 繁節外生枝

Mandarin · pinyin jié wài shēng zhī

(idiom) new problems arise unexpectedly

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Characters in this entry

節: Look up this written character
外: wài · out, outside, external; foreign
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
枝: zhī · branches, limbs; branch off
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

2–4–1–1 · jie2 wai4 sheng1 zhi1

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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.

節外生枝 · find source passages ↗ · 节外生枝 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zit3 ngoi6 sang1 zi1

Cantonese word readings for 節外生枝. 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) new issues or troubles crop up from an already-existing problem

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

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