明珠彈雀
míng​zhū​tán​què

the game is not worth the candle

  • created reference approved 明珠弹雀/明珠彈雀 → 得不偿失/得不償失 (synonym) — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    明珠弹雀 / 明珠彈雀 míng​zhū​tán​què

    得不偿失 / 得不償失 dé​bù​cháng​shī

    synonym

    Changed: source (simp), source (trad), source pinyin, target (simp), target (trad), target pinyin, type

    created reference

  • created sense approved 明珠弹雀/明珠彈雀 · míng​zhū​tán​què · the game is not worth the candle — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    明珠弹雀 / 明珠彈雀

    míng​zhū​tán​què

    the game is not worth the candle

    Literally meaning "to use a bright pearl to shoot a sparrow"; used to describe a situation where the gain does not make up for the loss or where something precious is wasted on a trivial task

    明珠 (literal) → 明珠 · míng​zhū · bright pearl 弹 (literal) → 弹/彈 · tán · to play; to flick 雀 (literal) → 雀 · què · sparrow

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

    created sense