盘根错节

盤根錯節

pángēncuòjié

idiom

Meanings

1 twisted roots and knotty joints
2 (of affairs) complicated and deeply entangled
3 thorny and intricate

Characters

to interweave; cross

Examples

这件案子盘根错节，难以理清。

Zhè jiàn ànzi pán gēn cuò jié, nányǐ lǐqīng.

This case is tangled and knotty — hard to untangle.

公司内部的利益关系盘根错节。

Gōngsī nèibù de lìyì guānxi pán gēn cuò jié.

The web of interests inside the company is deeply entangled.

这些问题盘根错节，需要系统解决。

Zhèxiē wèntí pán gēn cuò jié, xūyào xìtǒng jiějué.

These issues are knotted together and need a systematic solution.

Tips

history

From 《后汉书·虞诩传》: Yu Xu, sent to a troubled post, says '不遇盘根错节，何以别利器乎？' — 'without encountering twisted roots and knotty joints, how would one know a sharp blade?' Originally a claim that hard cases prove capable officials; now mostly about the difficulty itself.

usage

Applied to investigations, bureaucracies, networks of corruption, long-running disputes — anywhere many threads interweave. Often pairs with 关系, 案件, 矛盾, 问题.

Stroke Order

盘 pán

根 gēn

错 cuò

节 jié