归根究底 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• in the final analysis

Character by character

• 归guīto return, to go back; to return to, to revert
• 根gēnroot, basis, foundation
• 究jiūto dig into, to investigate; actually, after all
• 底dǐbottom, underside; below, underneath

Idioms sharing a character

• 不醉不归 bù zuì bù guī
• 命归黄泉 mìng guī Huáng quán
• 夜不归宿 yè bù guī sù
• 完璧归赵 wán bì guī Zhào
• 实至名归 shí zhì míng guī
• 改邪归正 gǎi xié guī zhèng
• 早出晚归 zǎo chū wǎn guī
• 归心似箭 guī xīn sì jiàn
• 殊途同归 shū tú tóng guī
• 水落归槽 shuǐ luò guī cáo

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