对症下药 in English dui4 zheng4 xia4 yao4 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) to prescribe the right medicine for an illness (idiomatic expression); metaphorically to study a problem to find the right way to solve it
  • to take appropriate steps

Simplified Characters

对 症 下 药

Traditional Characters

對 症 下 藥

Pinyin

dui4 zheng4 xia4 yao4

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

对dui4right 症zheng4disease 下xia4down 药yao4leaf of the iris