鱼 与 熊 掌

yú yǔ xióng zhǎngdictionary entry

lit. the fish and the bear's paw, you can't have both at the same time (idiom, from Mencius); fig. you must choose one or the other / you can't always get everything you want / you can't have your cake and eat it

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-0d2fe69f5bc04691. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

魚與熊掌 鱼与熊掌 [yu2 yu3 xiong2 zhang3] /lit. the fish and the bear's paw, you can't have both at the same time (idiom, from Mencius); fig. you must choose one or the other/you can't always get everything you want/you can't have your cake and eat it/

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Reference information

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

Character information

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Other forms in these source records: 魚與熊掌

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.