斩草除根 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to cut weeds and eliminate the roots ; to destroy root and branch
• to eliminate completely

Character by character

• 斩zhǎnto chop, to cut, to sever; to behead
• 草cǎograss, herbs; straw, thatch
• 除chúto eliminate, to remove, to wipe out
• 根gēnroot, basis, foundation

Idioms sharing a character

• 先斩后奏 xiān zhǎn hòu zòu
• 披荆斩棘 pī jīng zhǎn jí
• 斩钉截铁 zhǎn dīng jié tiě
• 过关斩将 guò guān zhǎn jiàng
• 名草有主 míng cǎo yǒu zhǔ
• 奇花异草 qí huā yì cǎo
• 寸草不生 cùn cǎo bù shēng
• 打草惊蛇 dǎ cǎo jīng shé
• 拈花惹草 niān huā rě cǎo
• 招风惹草 zhāo fēng rě cǎo

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