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

井底之蛙，醯鸡瓮中，见识就这么一点。

Jǐngdǐ zhī wā, 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.

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.

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