咬文嚼字 yǎo wén jiáo zì

be fussy about wording; nitpick wording

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. to bite words and chew characters (idiom); punctilious about minutiae of wording

Characters

Character Meaning
咬 yǎo HSK 5
to bite; to nip; variant of 咬yǎo
文 wén HSK 3
writing; culture; language
嚼 jiáo HSK 6
to chew; also pr. jué
字 zì HSK 1
character; symbol; word