穿针引线 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• lit. to thread a needle ; fig. to act as a go-between

Character by character

• 穿chuānto drill, to pierce; to dress, to wear
• 针zhēnneedle, pin, tack; acupuncture
• 引yǐnto pull, to stretch; to draw; to attract
• 线xiànline, thread, wire; clue, trail

Idioms sharing a character

• 一眼看穿 yī yǎn kàn chuān
• 妄生穿凿 wàng shēng chuān záo
• 户限为穿 hù xiàn wéi chuān
• 水滴石穿 shuǐ dī shí chuān
• 没吃没穿 méi chī méi chuān
• 滴水石穿 dī shuǐ shí chuān
• 滴水穿石 dī shuǐ chuān shí
• 百步穿杨 bǎi bù chuān yáng
• 眼穿肠断 yǎn chuān cháng duàn
• 磨穿铁砚 mó chuān tiě yàn

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.