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蚍蜉撼大樹

简蚍蜉撼大树 · 繁蚍蜉撼大樹

Mandarin · pinyin pí fú hàn dà shù

lit. an ant trying to shake a big tree (idiom)
fig. to overrate one's own strength
also written 蚍蜉撼樹 pí fú hàn shù

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Characters in this entry

蚍: pí · mussels; various shellfish
蜉: fú · mayfly
撼: hàn · move, shake; (Cant.) to fight
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
樹: shù · tree; plant; set up, establish
树: shù · tree; plant; set up, establish

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–4–4–4 · pi2 fu2 han4 da4 shu4

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6character links1source reference

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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.

蚍蜉撼大樹 · find source passages ↗ · 蚍蜉撼大树 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

pei4 fau4 ham6 daai6 syu6

Cantonese word readings for 蚍蜉撼大樹. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) synonym of 蚍蜉撼樹 /蚍蜉撼树 (pífúhànshù)

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

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