Literally "a fish in a dried-out wheel rut"; used to describe someone in dire straits who needs immediate help.

A famous Confucian scholar of the late Qin Dynasty and the eighth-generation descendant of [[孔子|孔子|kong3 zi3]]. He is best known for hiding classic texts like the [[论语|論語|lun2 yu3]] inside the walls of his ancestral home to save them from the burning of books under the Qin emperor. He later served as a scholar and tutor to the rebel leader [[陈胜|陳勝|chen2 sheng4]].

(literary) person in a desperate situation who is in urgent need of help; someone in dire poverty. This is a shorter form of the expression [[涸辙之鲋|涸轍之鮒|he2 zhe2 zhi1 fu4]].

(literary) a crucian carp trapped in a dry wheel rut, used to describe a person in desperate straits and in urgent need of help; originally from the "External Things" chapter of [[庄子|莊子|zhuang1 zi3]]