快刀斷亂麻 Save Sign in to save words Simplified: 快刀断乱麻 kuàidāoduànluànmá ㄎㄨㄞˋ ㄉㄠ ㄉㄨㄢˋ 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 斷(duàn)break 亂(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