DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

燕雀焉知鴻鵠之志

简燕雀焉知鸿鹄之志 · 繁燕雀焉知鴻鵠之志

Mandarin · pinyin yàn què yān zhī hóng gǔ zhī zhì

lit. can the sparrow and swallow know the will of the great swan? (idiom); fig. how can we small fry predict the ambitions of the great?

Characters in this entry

燕: yàn · swallow (bird); comfort, enjoy
雀: què · sparrow
焉: yān · thereupon, then; how? why? where?
知: zhī · know, perceive, comprehend
鴻: Look up this written character
鵠: Look up this written character
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
志: zhì · purpose, will, determination; annals
鸿: hóng · species of wild swan; vast
鹄: gǔ · target

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

4–4–1–1–2–3–1–4 · yan4 que4 yan1 zhi1 hong2 gu3 zhi1 zhi4

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

8character links

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

Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

jin3 zoek3 jin1 zi1 hung4 huk6 zi1 zi3

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