一言难尽
yī yán nán jìn
it’s a long story
Character by character
一yī
one
one
言yán
word
word
难nán
hard
hard
尽jìn
exhaust
exhaust
Example
说起这几年的经历，真是一言难尽。
What I’ve been through these past few years — it’s a long story.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
A sigh over something complicated, and a polite way to avoid telling the whole story.
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