Meaning: To take great pains (racking one's brains)
Summary: 煞费苦心 (shà fèi kǔ xīn) describes the act of putting immense thought and effort into a task. The character 煞 (shà) acts as an intensifier meaning 'extremely.' This idiom is highly versatile: it can be used to praise the dedication of a teacher or artist, or it can be used sarcastically to describe the desperate efforts of someone trying to cover up a lie or plot a scheme.
Read the full transcript with multilingual translations, meaning/usage notes, examples, and cultural context:
Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör
每天成语. Innehållet i podden är skapat av 每天成语 och inte av,
eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.
