节外生枝 jié wài shēng zhī

unexpected problems arise; side issues crop up

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency 47187th word

Definitions

  1. 1. a new branch grows out of a knot (idiom); fig. side issues keep arising

Characters

Character Meaning
节 jié HSK 3
festival
外 wài HSK 2
outside; external; foreign
生 shēng HSK 1
life; to be born; raw
枝 zhī HSK 6
branch; classifier for sticks, rods, pencils etc