說來話長
简 说来话长 · 繁 說來話長Meanings
- start explaining and it's a long story (idiom); complicated and not easy to express succinctly
Characters in this entry
- 說
- shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
- 來
- lái · come, coming; return, returning
- 話
- huà · speech, talk, language; dialect
- 長
- zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader; Kangxi radical 168
- 说
- shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
- 来
- lái · come, coming; return, returning
- 话
- huà · speech, talk, language; dialect
- 长
- zhǎng · long; length; excel in; leader
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
1–2–4–2 · shuo1 lai2 hua4 chang2
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.
說來話長 · find source passages ↗ · 说来话长 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
syut3 loi4 waa6 coeng4
Cantonese word readings for 說來話長. 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) It's a long story
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack