jiāo​zhù​gǔ​sè

stubborn and unadaptable

  • created sense approved 胶柱鼓瑟/膠柱鼓瑟 · jiāo​zhù​gǔ​sè · stubborn and unadaptable — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    胶柱鼓瑟 / 膠柱鼓瑟

    jiāo​zhù​gǔ​sè

    stubborn and unadaptable

    To be stubborn or inflexible; refers to sticking to old ways and being unable to adapt to changing circumstances. Literally, to glue the tuning bridges of a zither so that the pitch cannot be adjusted.

    胶 (literal) → 胶/膠 · jiāo · to glue 柱 (literal) → 柱 · zhù · string bridge 鼓瑟 (literal) → 鼓瑟 · gǔ​sè · to play the lute

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

    created sense