症结 (zhēng jié) — crux of an issue; sticking point; the underlying cause of a problem; (TCM) hard lump in the abdomen
Definition
Literally 'lump and knot' — 症结 means the root cause of a stuck problem. 难点 is just a general 'difficult point', not a specific blocker.
noun
crux of an issuesticking pointthe underlying cause of a problem(TCM) hard lump in the abdomen
Examples
- 症结。Tán pàn de zhēng jié shì shuāng fāng dōu bù kěn ràng bù.The crux of the negotiations is that neither side is willing to compromise.
- 症结。Fēn xī shī zhǐ chū le jīng jì wèn tí de zhēng jié.The analyst pointed out the crux of the economic problem.
- ，症结。Yào jiě jué zhè ge wèn tí, bì xū xiān zhǎo dào zhēng jié.To solve this problem, you must first find its root cause.
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