一波三折

yī bō sān zhé

full of twists and turns

Character by character

一yī
one

波bō
wave

三sān
three

折zhé
turns

这次买房一波三折，总算签了合同。

Buying this flat was one setback after another, but we finally signed.

Tone: neutral.

Originally a calligraphy term for a stroke that bends several times, now for any process full of setbacks.

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