千丝万缕 (qiān sī wàn lǚ) — countless interwoven ties; intricate connections

Definition

A chengyu describing countless intertwined threads — used for deep, tangled connections between people, events, or things that are hard to separate. The focus is on the WEAVING (not just quantity) of many overlapping links.

idiom
countless interwoven tiesintricate connections

Examples

  • 千丝万缕，。
    Tā men liǎng rén zhī jiān yǒu zhe qiān sī wàn lǚ de lián xì, nán yǐ yì dāo liǎng duàn.
    There are countless intertwined connections between the two of them, hard to sever completely.
  • 千丝万缕。
    Zhè bù xiǎo shuō zhōng de qíng jié yǔ lì shǐ shì jiàn yǒu qiān sī wàn lǚ de guān lián.
    The plot of this novel has intricate connections with historical events.
  • 千丝万缕，。
    Liǎng guó de wén huà yǒu qiān sī wàn lǚ de yuān yuán, hěn nán shuō qīng shuí yǐng xiǎng le shuí.
    The cultures of the two countries have countless interwoven origins; it's hard to say who influenced whom.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

千丝thousand threads
千qiānthousand丝sīthread
偏正Modifier + head
万缕ten thousand strands
万wànten thousand缕lǚstrand
偏正Modifier + head

千 threads and 万 strands together picture countless fine links.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
一一yīone, signifying a number
Sound part声符shēngfú
人
人rén千qiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

千 pairs 人, whose sound was similar, with 一, a number stroke; the extra line was explained as extension, and a thousand is a number reached by extending counting.

Open 千 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 絲; 丝 is its simplified writing.

  • 糸糸mì
  • 糸糸mì

In the traditional form 絲, the shape is two 糸 written together; this is about 絲, not the simplified 丝.

Open 丝 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 萬; 万 is its simplified writing.

For 万, the form 萬 was originally a picture of a scorpion, later borrowed for its sound to write 'ten thousand'; the scorpion picture is unrelated to that number.

Open 万 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 缕 →

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