追根问底 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• lit. to examine roots and inquire at the base ; to get to the bottom of sth

Character by character

• 追zhuīto pursue, to chase after; to expel
• 根gēnroot, basis, foundation
• 问wènto ask about, to inquire after
• 底dǐbottom, underside; below, underneath

Idioms sharing a character

• 买笑追欢 mǎi xiào zhuī huān
• 追名逐利 zhuī míng zhú lì
• 追悔莫及 zhuī huǐ mò jí
• 刨根问底 páo gēn wèn dǐ
• 寻根问底 xún gēn wèn dǐ
• 斩草除根 zhǎn cǎo chú gēn
• 根深叶茂 gēn shēn yè mào
• 归根究底 guī gēn jiū dǐ
• 盘根问底 pán gēn wèn dǐ
• 盘根究底 pán gēn jiū dǐ

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