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螳臂當車

简 螳臂当车 · 繁 螳臂當車
Mandarin · pinyin táng bì dāng chē

Meanings

  1. (lit.) a mantis trying to stop a chariot (idiom)
  2. (fig.) to overrate oneself and attempt sth impossible
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Characters in this entry

螳
táng · mantis
臂
bì · arm
當
dāng · bear, accept, undertake; just
車
chē · cart, vehicle; carry in a cart; Kangxi radical 159
当
dāng · bear, accept, undertake; just
车
chē · cart, vehicle; carry in cart
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Entries containing 螳臂當車 ↗Words written with 螳 ↗Words written with 臂 ↗Words written with 當 ↗Words written with 車 ↗Words written with 当 ↗Words written with 车 ↗

Mandarin tones

2–4–1–1 · tang2 bi4 dang1 che1

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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.

phrase

  1. (figurative) to overrate oneself and attempt something impossible

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

螳臂當車 · tang2 bi4 dang1 che1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 97,628
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record螳臂當車 螳臂当车 [tang2 bi4 dang1 che1] /(lit.) a mantis trying to stop a chariot (idiom)/(fig.) to overrate oneself and attempt sth impossible/