戴盆望天

Mandarin · pinyin dài pén wàng tiān

Meanings

  1. lit. viewing the sky with a basin on one's head; it is hard to get a clear view of the sky while carrying a platter on one's head
  2. fig. it is hard to get on in one's career while encumbered by family obligations
  3. one can't perform a major task while bothered by other duties
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Characters in this entry

戴
dài · wear on top; support
盆
pén · basin, tub, pot, bowl
望
wàng · to look at, look forward; to hope, expect
天
tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–1 · dai4 pen2 wang4 tian1

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daai3 pun4 mong6 tin1

Cantonese word readings for 戴盆望天. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

戴盆望天 · dai4 pen2 wang4 tian1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 44,181
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record戴盆望天 戴盆望天 [dai4 pen2 wang4 tian1] /lit. viewing the sky with a basin on one's head; it is hard to get a clear view of the sky while carrying a platter on one's head/fig. it is hard to get on in one's career while encumbered by family obligations/one can't perform a major task while bothered by other duties/