DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
水淺養不住大魚
简 水浅养不住大鱼 · 繁 水淺養不住大魚Mandarin · pinyin shuǐ qiǎn yǎng bù zhù dà yú
Meanings
- lit. shallow waters cannot harbor big fish (idiom)
- fig. ambitious, talented people cannot reach their full potential in a small organization
Characters in this entry
- 水
- shuǐ · water, liquid, lotion, juice
- 淺
- Look up this written character
- 養
- yǎng · raise, rear, bring up; support
- 不
- bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
- 住
- zhù · reside, live at, dwell, lodge; stop
- 大
- dà · big, great, vast, large, high
- 魚
- yú · fish; surname; Kangxi radical 195
- 浅
- qiǎn · shallow, not deep; superficial
- 养
- yǎng · raise, rear, bring up; support
- 鱼
- yú · fish; surname; Kangxi radical 195
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
3–3–3–4–4–4–2 · shui3 qian3 yang3 bu4 zhu4 da4 yu2
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
9character links
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.