gē jī yān yòng niú dāo

Traditional: 割雞焉用牛刀

割鸡焉用牛刀 (gē jī yān yòng niú dāo) is a Chinese word meaning “lit. why use a pole-ax to slaughter a chicken? (idiom); fig. to waste effort on a trifling matter; also written 殺雞焉用牛刀|杀鸡焉用牛刀[sha1 ji1 yan1 yong4 niu2 dao1]”.

Meanings

  1. 1lit. why use a pole-ax to slaughter a chicken? (idiom)
  2. 2fig. to waste effort on a trifling matter
  3. 3also written 殺雞焉用牛刀|杀鸡焉用牛刀[sha1 ji1 yan1 yong4 niu2 dao1]

Characters in 割鸡焉用牛刀

割gē · to cut鸡jī · fowl焉yān · where用yòng · to use; to make use of; to employ牛niú · ox刀dāo · knife; blade; single-edged sword; cutlass (CL:把[ba3])

Related words

用to use; to make use of; to employ不用need not利用to exploit使用to use鸡fowl鸡variant of 雞|鸡[ji1]刀knife; blade; single-edged sword; cutlass (CL:把[ba3])刀surname Dao牛ox牛surname Niu作用to act on; to affect信用卡credit card

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