染 指 于 鼎

rǎn zhǐ yú dǐngdictionary entry

lit. dip one's finger in the tripod (idiom) / fig. to get one's finger in the pie / to get a share of the action

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-27756d2c10e8f557. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

染指於鼎 染指于鼎 [ran3 zhi3 yu2 ding3] /lit. dip one's finger in the tripod (idiom); fig. to get one's finger in the pie/to get a share of the action/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

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

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 染指於鼎

染
rǎn
to dye / to catch (a disease) / to acquire (bad habits etc) / to contaminate / to add color washes to a painting
指
zhǐ
finger / to point at or to / to indicate or refer to / to depend on / to count on / (of hair) to stand on end
于
yú
to go / to take / sentence-final interrogative particle / (of time or place) in / at / on / (indicating any indirect relation) to / toward / vis-à-vis / with regard to / for / (indicating a source) from / out of / (used in comparison) than / (used in the passive voice) by
Yú
surname Yu
鼎
dǐng
ancient cooking cauldron with two looped handles and three or four legs / pot (dialect) / to enter upon a period of (classical) / Kangxi radical 206 / one of the 64 hexagrams of the Book of Changes

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.