钻牛角尖

鑽牛角尖

zuānniú-jiǎojiān

idiom #24,454

Meanings

1 to split hairs
2 to get bogged down in trivialities
3 to pursue a dead end
4 to fixate on an unsolvable problem

Characters

to drill / to bore into

cow / bull / ox

tip / sharp point

Examples

别钻牛角尖了，这个问题根本没有答案。

Bié zuānniújiǎojiān le, zhège wèntí gēnběn méiyǒu dá'àn.

Stop splitting hairs — this problem simply has no answer.

他总喜欢钻牛角尖，讨论一些无关紧要的细节。

Tā zǒng xǐhuān zuānniújiǎojiān, tǎolùn yīxiē wúguānjǐnyào de xìjié.

He always likes to nitpick and discuss irrelevant details.

Tips

memory

Picture trying to drill into the sharp tip of a bull's horn — an impossible, pointless task. That is exactly what 钻牛角尖 describes: pouring effort into something that leads nowhere.

Stroke Order

钻 zuān

牛 niú

角 jiǎo

尖 jiān