买椟还珠
mǎi​dú​huán​zhū

to lack judgment

  • created sense approved 买椟还珠/買櫝還珠 · mǎi​dú​huán​zhū · to lack judgment — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    买椟还珠 / 買櫝還珠

    mǎi​dú​huán​zhū

    to lack judgment

    To buy the casket and return the pearl; used to describe showing poor judgment by focusing on the superficial while ignoring the valuable part, or choosing the wrong thing entirely

    买 (literal) → 买/買 · mǎi · to buy 椟 (literal) → 椟/櫝 · dú · box 还 (literal) → 还/還 · huán · to return 珠 (literal) → 珠 · zhū · pearl

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense