字 Chinese Character Wiki Wiki
Log in
  • Home
  • Search
  • Articles
  • Lists
  • Recent Changes
  • My Edits
  • Character Builder
Preferences
Theme
Characters
Phonetic
  • Dong Chinese
Read Edit View history
抱瓮灌圃
bào​wèng​guàn​pǔ

to expend much effort for little results

Origin Definitions Defs Strokes Stroke Words Sentences Sents
抱瓮灌圃 抱甕灌圃 bào​wèng​guàn​pǔ
to expend much effort for little results
(idiom) describes using clumsy or inefficient methods; literally "to carry a pitcher to water the garden," based on a story in the 庄子 zhuāng​zǐ where a man refuses more efficient tools in favor of manual labor
CC BY-SA 4.0 Data licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0