Definition
症结 (zhēng jié) means the 'crux' or 'root cause' of a problem — the hidden core issue that must be solved first. It is more abstract and formal than 难点 (nán diǎn), which simply means a 'difficult point' or 'challenge' in a task. 症结 implies a deeper, underlying blockage, while 难点 is any hard part.
noun
crux of an issuesticking pointthe underlying cause of a problem(TCM) hard lump in the abdomen
Easily confused
- 整洁zhěng jiésound-aliketidy, neat
Examples
- 症结。Tánpàn de zhēng jié shì shuāngfāng dōu bùkěn ràngbù.The crux of the negotiations is that neither side is willing to compromise.
- 症结。Fēnxīshī zhǐchū le jīngjì wèntí de zhēng jié.The analyst pointed out the crux of the economic problem.
- ，症结。Yào jiějué zhège wèntí, bìxū xiān zhǎodào zhēng jié.To solve this problem, you must first find its root cause.
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