歸根究底

(idiom) in the final analysis

surname Gui

to return / to go back to / to give back to / (of a responsibility) to be taken care of by / to belong to / to gather together / (used between two identical verbs) despite / to marry (of a woman) (old) / division on the abacus with a one-digit divisor

to return home (after a lifetime's absence) / to go back to one's roots

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

to investigate (sth) thoroughly / to get to the bottom of

after all / to investigate / to study carefully / Taiwan pr. [jiu4]

(equivalent to 的 as possessive particle)

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