挑三拣四
tiāo sān jiǎn sì
to be picky
Character by character
挑tiāo
pick
pick
三sān
three
three
拣jiǎn
choose
choose
四sì
four
four
Example
有饭吃就不错了，别挑三拣四的。
Be glad there’s food — stop being so fussy.
Tone: negative (criticism).
Usage and origin
挑 is tiāo (choose) here, not tiǎo.
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