蚍蜉

pífú
noun #83,235

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 large ant

Examples

HSK 5
Yì zhī pífú xiǎng tuīdǎo dàshù, zhēn shì búzìliànglì.
An ant trying to push over a great tree is truly overrating itself.
HSK 6
Zài Hán Yù kànlái, nàxiē gōngjī Lǐ Bái hé Dù Fǔ de rén búguò shì pífú.
In Han Yu’s view, those who attacked Li Bai and Du Fu were mere ants.

Tips

culture
Han Yu’s poem 调张籍 defends Li Bai and Du Fu against their critics: like an ant shaking a great tree, they are 可笑不自量 ‘laughable, not knowing their own measure’. The idiom 蚍蜉撼树 grew from that line.

Stroke Order

蚍 pí
蜉 fú