抱瓮灌圃
bào​wèng​guàn​pǔ

to expend much effort for little results

  • created sense approved 抱瓮灌圃/抱甕灌圃 · bào​wèng​guàn​pǔ · to expend much effort for little results — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    抱瓮灌圃 / 抱甕灌圃

    bào​wèng​guàn​pǔ

    to expend much effort for little results

    (idiom) describes using clumsy or inefficient methods; literally "to carry a pitcher to water the garden," based on a story in the [[庄子|莊子|zhuang1 zi3]] where a man refuses more efficient tools in favor of manual labor

    抱 (literal) → 抱 · bào · to hold 瓮 (literal) → 瓮 · wèng · urn 灌 (literal) → 灌 · guàn · to irrigate 圃 (literal) → 圃 · pǔ · garden

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

    created sense