快刀斩乱麻 Save Sign in to save words Traditional (Taiwan): 快刀斬亂麻 kuàidāozhǎnluànmá ㄎㄨㄞˋ ㄉㄠ ㄓㄢˇ ㄌㄨㄢˋ ㄇㄚˊ lit. quick sword cuts through tangled hemp (idiom) decisive action in a complex situation cutting the Gordian knot Character by character 快(kuài)rapid 刀(dāo)surname Dao 斩(zhǎn)behead 乱(luàn)in confusion or disorder 麻(má)hemp A Chinese word or character, or English Search Sources CC-CEDICT, CC BY-SA 4.0 pinyinjs, Apache-2.0