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黔驢技窮

简 黔驴技穷 · 繁 黔驢技窮
Mandarin · pinyin Qián lǘ jì qióng

Meanings

  1. to exhaust one's limited abilities (idiom)
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Characters in this entry

黔
qián · black; Guizhou
驢
Look up this written character
技
jì · skill, ability, talent, ingenuity
窮
Look up this written character
驴
lǘ · donkey, ass
穷
qióng · poor, destitute, impoverished
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Entries containing 黔驢技窮 ↗Words written with 黔 ↗Words written with 驢 ↗Words written with 技 ↗Words written with 窮 ↗Words written with 驴 ↗Words written with 穷 ↗

Mandarin tones

2–2–4–2 · Qian2 lu:2 ji4 qiong2

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Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

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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

kim4 lou4 gei6 kung4

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.

phrase

  1. (figurative) to exhaust one's limited abilities; to be a one-trick pony

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

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