一言難盡

Chinese

		one sentence; something to say; brief remark	disaster; distress; to scold disaster; distress; to scold; difficult (to...); problem; difficulty; difficult; not good	to use up; to exhaust; to end to use up; to exhaust; to end; to finish; to the utmost; exhausted; finished; to the limit (of sth)
trad. (一言難盡)		一言	難	盡
simp. (一言难尽)		一言	难	尽

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yīyánnánjìn

  (Zhuyin): ㄧ ㄧㄢˊ ㄋㄢˊ ㄐㄧㄣˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jat¹ jin⁴ naan⁴ zeon⁶
• Wu (Wugniu)
  • (Northern): ⁷iq-yi ⁶ne-zhin

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yīyánnánjìn [Phonetic: yìyánnánjìn]
    • Zhuyin: ㄧ ㄧㄢˊ ㄋㄢˊ ㄐㄧㄣˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yiyánnánjìn
    • Wade–Giles: i¹-yen²-nan²-chin⁴
    • Yale: yī-yán-nán-jìn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: iyannanjinn
    • Palladius: ияньнаньцзинь (ijanʹnanʹczinʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /i⁵⁵⁻⁵¹ jɛn³⁵ nän³⁵ t͡ɕin⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jat¹ jin⁴ naan⁴ zeon⁶
    • Yale: yāt yìhn nàahn jeuhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jat⁷ jin⁴ naan⁴ dzoen⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: yed¹ yin⁴ nan⁴ zên⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐt̚⁵ jiːn²¹ naːn²¹ t͡sɵn²²/
• Wu
  • (Shanghai):
    • Wugniu: ⁷iq-yi ⁶ne-zhin
    • MiniDict: ih^入 yi ne^去 zhin
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ⁴iq-hhi ³ne-xxin
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /iɪʔ³³ ɦi⁴⁴ ne²² ʑin⁴⁴/

Note: Tone sandhi within chengyu often vary from person to person..

Idiom

一言難盡

1. (of complicated matters) to be hard to explain in a few words; there is a lot to say; it's a long story

Synonyms

• 說來話長／说来话长 (shuōláihuàcháng)