a desperate rat will bite the fox (idiom); the smallest worm will turn being trodden on
trad. 窮鼠嚙狸
Also written 窮鼠嚙狸【qióng shǔ niè lí】
Characters in this word
4穷
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
poor, destitute, to use up, to exhaust, thoroughly, extremely, (coll.) persistently and pointlessly
- Pinyin
- qióng
- Traditional
- 窮
- Strokes
- 7
- Frequency
- 9199 of 2500
鼠
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
(bound form) rat; mouse
- Pinyin
- shǔ
- Strokes
- 13
- Frequency
- 13224 of 2500
啮
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
to gnaw, to erode
- Pinyin
- niè
- Traditional
- 嚙
- Strokes
- 11
狸
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
(bound form) used in the names of small mammals
- Pinyin
- lí
- Strokes
- 10