瓮中之鳖 / 甕中之鱉

wèng​zhōng​zhī​biē

trapped person or animal

Literally "a turtle in a jar"; describes someone or something that is completely trapped and has no way to escape

瓮 (literal) → 瓮 · wèng · urn 中 (literal) → 中 · zhōng · middle 之 (literal) → 之 · zhī · [possessive] 鳖 (literal) → 鳖/鱉 · biē · soft-shelled turtle

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

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:57 PM