DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
對牛彈琴
简 对牛弹琴 · 繁 對牛彈琴Mandarin · pinyin duì niú tán qín
Meanings
- lit. to play the lute to a cow (idiom)
- fig. offering a treat to an unappreciative audience
- to cast pearls before swine
- caviar to the general
- to preach to deaf ears
- to talk over sb's head
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Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.
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Mandarin tones
4–2–2–2 · dui4 niu2 tan2 qin2
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
deoi3 ngau4 taan4 kam4
Cantonese word readings for 對牛彈琴. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
deoi3 ngau4 taan4 kam4
Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
verb
- to talk about something that one's listener can not understand or turns a deaf ear to; to talk to a brick wall; to preach to deaf ears
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack