治丝益棼 — Chinese idiom
治丝益棼
zhì sī yì fén
Traditional: 治絲益棼
Meaning
- lit. try to straighten out silk threads only to tangle them further
- fig. to try to help but end up making things worse
Character by character
- 治zhìto administer, to govern, to regulate
- 丝sīsilk, fine thread; wire; strings
- 益yìto profit, to benefit; advantage
- 棼fénrafters; disordered, confused
Idioms sharing a character
- 分而治之 fēn ér zhì zhī
- 励精图治 lì jīng tú zhì
- 文治武功 wén zhì wǔ gōng
- 臻于郅治 zhēn yú zhì zhì
- 齐家治国 qí jiā zhì guó
- 一丝一毫 yī sī yī háo
- 一丝不挂 yī sī bù guà
- 一丝不苟 yī sī bù gǒu
- 千丝万缕 qiān sī wàn lǚ
- 吐丝自缚 tǔ sī zì fù
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.