醯鸡瓮

醯雞甕

xījīwèng

idiom

Meanings

1 a vinegar-fly's jar
2 a tiny, narrow world
3 the cramped horizon of the ignorant

Characters

chicken (here: gnat)

Examples

HSK 5

他不愿一辈子困在这醯鸡瓮般的小城。

Tā bù yuàn yībèizi kùn zài zhè xījīwèng bān de xiǎo chéng.

He refused to spend his life stuck in this cramped little town, no bigger than a bug's jar.

HSK 7-9

井底之蛙，醯鸡瓮中，见识就这么一点。

Jǐngdǐzhīwā, xījīwèng zhōng, jiànshi jiù zhème yīdiǎn.

A frog at the bottom of a well, a gnat in a vinegar jar - their horizons are that small.

Tips

history

Classical image from 《庄子》 - the vinegar-fly (醯鸡) lives its whole life inside the jar (瓮) and thinks that is the entire world. Used like 井底之蛙 but more literary.

Stroke Order

醯 xī

鸡 jī

瓮 wèng