gěng​duǎn​jí​shēn

out of one's depth

  • created sense approved 绠短汲深/綆短汲深 · gěng​duǎn​jí​shēn · out of one's depth — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    绠短汲深 / 綆短汲深

    gěng​duǎn​jí​shēn

    out of one's depth

    (idiom) used to humbly express that one's abilities are too limited to handle a difficult or important task. It literally describes a rope that is too short to reach water at the bottom of a deep well.

    绠 (literal) → 绠/綆 · gěng · well rope 短 (literal) → 短 · duǎn · short 汲 (literal) → 汲 · jí · to draw water 深 (literal) → 深 · shēn · deep

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

    created sense