DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
癩蛤蟆想吃天鵝肉
简 癞蛤蟆想吃天鹅肉 · 繁 癩蛤蟆想吃天鵝肉Mandarin · pinyin lài há ma xiǎng chī tiān é ròu
Meanings
- lit. the toad wants to eat swan meat (idiom)
- fig. to try to punch above one's weight
Characters in this entry
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4–2–5–3–1–1–2–4 · lai4 ha2 ma5 xiang3 chi1 tian1 e2 rou4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
8character links
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
proverb
- to be carried away by one's wishful thinking and overestimate one's abilities; to pursue something that is out of one's league
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack