DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

三天打魚，兩天曬網

简三天打鱼，两天晒网 · 繁三天打魚，兩天曬網

Mandarin · pinyin sān tiān dǎ yú , liǎng tiān shài wǎng

lit. to fish for three days and sun-dry the nets for two days (proverb)
fig. not to persevere in doing sth
to do sth by fits and starts

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

三: sān · three
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
打: dǎ · strike, hit, beat; fight; attack
魚: yú · fish; surname; Kangxi radical 195
兩: liǎng · two, both, pair, couple; ounce
曬: Look up this written character
網: Look up this written character
鱼: yú · fish; surname; Kangxi radical 195
两: liǎng · two, both, pair, couple; ounce
晒: shài · dry in sun, expose to sun
网: wǎng · net; network; Kangxi radical 122

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

Explore the spelling

Connected dictionary

9character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

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

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

三天打魚，兩天曬網 · find source passages ↗ · 三天打鱼，两天晒网 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗