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絞盡腦汁

简绞尽脑汁 · 繁絞盡腦汁

Mandarin · pinyin jiǎo jìn nǎo zhī

to rack one's brains

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Characters in this entry

絞: Look up this written character
盡: Look up this written character
腦: Look up this written character
汁: zhī · juice, liquor, fluid, sap, gravy, sauce
绞: jiǎo · twist, wring; intertwine; winch
尽: jǐn · exhaust, use up; deplete
脑: nǎo · brain

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4–3–1 · jiao3 jin4 nao3 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.

絞盡腦汁 · find source passages ↗ · 绞尽脑汁 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

gaau2 zeon6 nou5 zap1

Cantonese word readings for 絞盡腦汁. 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

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

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