(lit.) why use an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken?; (fig.) there's no need to use great ability or resources for a trivial task
trad. 殺雞焉用牛刀
Also written 殺雞焉用牛刀【shā jī yān yòng niú dāo】
Characters in this word
6杀
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to kill; to slay; to murder; to attack, to weaken; to reduce, (dialect) to smart, (used after a verb) extremely
- Pinyin
- shā
- Traditional
- 殺
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 218 of 2500
鸡
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
fowl, chicken, CL:隻|只[zhi1], (slang) prostitute
- Pinyin
- jī
- Traditional
- 雞
- Strokes
- 7
- Frequency
- 2753 of 2500
焉
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
where, how
- Pinyin
- yān
- Strokes
- 11
- Frequency
- 34110 of 2500
用
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to use; to make use of; to employ, (coverb) with; using, to need; to have to (usu. used in the negative or in questions), usefulness; utility, (bound form) expense; outlay, (courteous) to eat; to drink, (literary) hence; therefore
- Pinyin
- yòng
- Strokes
- 5
- Frequency
- 135 of 2500
牛
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Niu
- Pinyin
- Niú
- Strokes
- 4
- Frequency
- 2680 of 2500
刀
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Dao
- Pinyin
- Dāo
- Strokes
- 2
- Frequency
- 1717 of 2500