魚與熊掌
yú​yǔ​xióng​zhǎng

you can't have both

  • created sense approved 鱼与熊掌/魚與熊掌 · yú​yǔ​xióng​zhǎng · you can't have both — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    鱼与熊掌 / 魚與熊掌

    yú​yǔ​xióng​zhǎng

    you can't have both

    Literally "the fish and the bear's paw"; an idiom meaning one must choose between two desirable things because they cannot both be had at the same time.

    鱼 (literal) → 鱼/魚 · yú · fish 与 (literal) → 与/與 · yǔ · and 熊掌 (literal) → 熊掌 · xióng​zhǎng · bear paw

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

    created sense