目無全牛
Chinese
eye; item; section eye; item; section; list; catalogue; table of contents; (taxonomy) order; goal; name; title |
not have | all; whole; entire all; whole; entire; every; complete |
ox; cow; bull | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (目無全牛) | 目 | 無 | 全 | 牛 | |
| simp. (目无全牛) | 目 | 无 | 全 | 牛 | |
| Literally: “there are no whole cows in sight”. | |||||
Etymology
From Zhuangzi, chapter 3 (《莊子·養生主》):
- 始臣之解牛之時，所見無非全牛者。三年之後，未嘗見全牛也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: Zhuangzi, circa 3rd – 2nd centuries BCE, translation from The Complete Works Of Chuang Tzu (2013), by Burton Watson
- Shǐ chén zhī jiě niú zhī shí, suǒjiàn wú fēi quán niú zhě. Sān nián zhīhòu, wèicháng jiàn quán niú yě. [Pinyin]
- When I first began cutting up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After three years I no longer saw the whole ox.
始臣之解牛之时，所见无非全牛者。三年之后，未尝见全牛也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
Pronunciation
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.