📖 Meaning
To search widely for and select talented people, combing through many candidates to pick out the most capable ones. The idiom emphasizes both thoroughness in searching and care in selection. It is a variant form of the more common 爬罗剔抉.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom derives from '进学解' (Discourse on the Advancement of Learning), an essay by Han Yu (韩愈), the celebrated Tang dynasty writer and statesman, written around 813 AD. In it Han Yu describes his work as an educator: '爬罗剔抉，刮垢磨光' — raking through and selecting talented students, scraping away their flaws and polishing them to shine. The character 杷 is a variant writing of 爬 (to rake). The phrase later became a set expression for searching out and selecting the best talent.
💡 Example Usage
公司人事部门杷罗剔抉，终于招到几位真正的技术骨干。
The company's HR department combed through candidates and finally recruited a few real technical core staff.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 杷罗剔抉
- Pinyin: pá luó tī jué
- Literal Translation: rake, gather, pick out, select
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4