刨根问底

to dig up roots and inquire at the base (idiom); to get to the bottom of sth

carpenter's plane / to plane (woodwork) / to shave off / to peel (with a potato peeler etc)

to dig / to excavate / (coll.) to exclude / not to count / to deduct / to subtract

variant of 刨[bao4]

lit. to dig up the root / to get to the heart of (the matter)

root / basis / classifier for long slender objects, e.g. cigarettes, guitar strings / CL:條|条[tiao2] / radical (chemistry)

to ask / to inquire

to ask; to inquire

(equivalent to 的 as possessive particle)

background / bottom / base / end (of the month, year etc) / remnants / (math.) radix / base