📖 Meaning
A metaphor describing a situation or state of affairs that is extremely confused and tangled, like a ball of twisted hemp fibers. It conveys chaos where things are interwoven and difficult to sort out or resolve.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom has no single documented origin in classical literature. It draws on the familiar visual metaphor of tangled hemp fiber, which was a common material in ancient China and notoriously difficult to untangle once knotted. The image of disorderly hemp appears in various vernacular novels and colloquial writings from the Ming and Qing dynasties onward. Over time it became a standard expression for describing bewilderingly complex circumstances.
💡 Example Usage
面对纷乱如麻的线索，侦探一时不知从何查起。
Faced with the tangled and chaotic clues, the detective did not know where to begin his investigation.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 纷乱如麻
- Pinyin: fēn luàn rú má
- Literal Translation: messy, chaotic, like, hemp
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4