DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

大材小用

Mandarin · pinyin dà cái xiǎo yòng

(idiom) to use a talented person in a role far beneath their ability; a waste of talent

Characters in this entry

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

4–2–3–4 · da4 cai2 xiao3 yong4

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

4character links1same-tone record

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

daai6 coi4 siu2 jung6

Cantonese word readings for 大材小用. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

daai6 coi4 siu2 jung6

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

(idiomatic) to use a talented person in an insignificant position; to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut