水中捉月
shuǐ​zhōng​zhuō​yuè

to make vain efforts

  • created sense approved 水中捉月 · shuǐ​zhōng​zhuō​yuè · to make vain efforts — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    水中捉月

    shuǐ​zhōng​zhuō​yuè

    to make vain efforts

    To make impractical or vain efforts; a metaphor for wasted energy or a futile attempt to do the impossible.

    水 (literal) → 水 · shuǐ · water 中 (literal) → 中 · zhōng · middle 捉 (literal) → 捉 · zhuō · to catch 月 (literal) → 月 · yuè · moon

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

    created sense