Meaning
繁琐 describes something that is excessively complicated with many trivial details, making it tedious and troublesome to deal with. It conveys a sense of unnecessary complexity that causes annoyance or exhaustion, often used for procedures, tasks, or processes that involve too many small steps.
Usage
Commonly used to describe bureaucratic procedures, administrative tasks, or work processes that involve excessive detail. Native speakers often use it to complain about unnecessarily complicated systems or tasks. It carries a negative connotation and suggests the complexity is burdensome rather than necessary.
Examples
- 01办理签证的手续太繁琐了，需要准备很多材料。, .The visa application procedures are too tedious; you need to prepare a lot of documents.
- 02我们应该简化这个繁琐的报销流程。.We should simplify this tedious reimbursement process.
Characters
Common collocations
- 繁琐的手续tedious procedures
- 繁琐的工作tedious work
- 繁琐的过程tedious process
- 过于繁琐overly complicated
Antonyms
Origin
The character 繁 originally referred to silk threads being numerous and tangled, while 琐 depicted small pieces of jade, representing trivial things. Together they express the concept of numerous trivial details creating unnecessary complexity.