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成语 · 井底之蛙

The frog at the bottom of the well. Zhuangzi on how small a world can look.

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井底之蛙jǐng dǐ zhī wāthe frog at the bottom of the well: someone whose world is the size of their view

逐字 · CHARACTER BY CHARACTER

CharacterReadingMeaning
井jǐnga well
底dǐbottom
之zhīof (classical 的)
蛙wāfrog

A frog boasted to a sea turtle about his well: he had the whole water to himself. The turtle tried to describe the sea: a thousand miles is not far enough to say how wide, a thousand fathoms not deep enough to say how deep. The frog had nothing to say. 《庄子·秋水》

原文 · THE LINE

Jǐng wā bù kě yǐ yù yú hǎi zhě, jū yú xū yě.井蛙不可以语于海者,拘于虚也。You cannot speak of the sea to a well frog — it is bound to its own hollow.

What this card is

A one-page Chinese lesson from the HSK 4 set, filed under 文 · Culture. The frog at the bottom of the well. Zhuangzi on how small a world can look.

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Where it fits

The source: 井底之蛙 in the dictionary.

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