燕 雀 焉 知 鸿 鹄 之 志

yàn què yān zhī hóng gǔ zhī zhìdictionary entry

lit. can the sparrow and swallow know the will of the great swan? (idiom); fig. how can we small fry predict the ambitions of the great?

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-07e47530fa231f96. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

燕雀焉知鴻鵠之志 燕雀焉知鸿鹄之志 [yan4 que4 yan1 zhi1 hong2 gu3 zhi1 zhi4] /lit. can the sparrow and swallow know the will of the great swan? (idiom); fig. how can we small fry predict the ambitions of the great?/

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Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

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Other forms in these source records: 燕雀焉知鴻鵠之志

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.