拔出萝卜带出泥

拔出蘿蔔帶出泥

báchūluóbodàichūní

idiom

Meanings

1 pulling out a radish brings up the dirt
2 investigating one crime uncovers others
3 one problem drags others along with it

Characters

Examples

查这起腐败案真是拔出萝卜带出泥，又牵出好几个官员。

Chá zhè qǐ fǔbài àn zhēn shì bá chū luóbo dài chū ní, yòu qiān chū hǎo jǐ gè guānyuán.

Investigating this corruption case was like pulling up a radish and dragging dirt with it — several more officials were implicated.

修一个问题，又发现三个，真是拔出萝卜带出泥。

Xiū yī gè wèntí, yòu fāxiàn sān gè, zhēn shì bá chū luóbo dài chū ní.

Fix one problem, find three more — classic radish-and-dirt.

Tips

usage

Very common in news about anti-corruption investigations — one arrest triggers a chain. Also used for debugging and any cascading discovery.

Stroke Order

拔 bá

出 chū

萝 luó

卜 bǔ

带 dài

泥 ní