来龙去脉 — Chinese idiom
来龙去脉
lái lóng qù mài
Traditional: 來龍去脈
Meaning
- (lit.) the rise and fall of the terrain
- (fig.) the whole sequence of events; causes and effects
Character by character
- 来láito arrive, to come, to return; in the future, late
- 龙lóngdragon; symbol of the emperor
- 去qùto go away, to leave, to depart
- 脉màia pulse; arteries, veins; blood vessels
Idioms sharing a character
- 人来人往 rén lái rén wǎng
- 来之不易 lái zhī bù yì
- 来去无踪 lái qù wú zōng
- 来日方长 lái rì fāng cháng
- 来历不明 lái lì bù míng
- 来者不拒 lái zhě bù jù
- 来踪去迹 lái zōng qù jì
- 来鸿去燕 lái hóng qù yàn
- 倾巢来犯 qīng cháo lái fàn
- 先来后到 xiān lái hòu dào
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.