得 鱼 忘 筌

dé yú wàng quándictionary entry

lit. catch fish then forget the trap (idiom, from Zhuangzi 莊子|庄子[Zhuāng zǐ]) / fig. to take help for granted

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-50e0179f58c3f17b. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

得魚忘筌 得鱼忘筌 [de2 yu2 wang4 quan2] /lit. catch fish then forget the trap (idiom, from Zhuangzi 莊子|庄子[Zhuang1 zi3]); fig. to take help for granted/

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: 得魚忘筌

得
dé
to obtain / to get / to gain / to catch (a disease) / proper / suitable / proud / contented / to allow / to permit / ready / finished
dè
used in 得瑟[dè se]
de
structural particle: used after a verb (or adjective as main verb), linking it to following phrase indicating effect, degree, possibility etc
děi
to have to / must / ought to / to need to
鱼
yú
fish (CL:條|条[tiáo],尾[wěi]) / used in the names of various aquatic animals that are not fish (including abalone 鮑魚|鲍鱼[bào yú], alligators and crocodiles 鱷魚|鳄鱼[è yú] and octopi 章魚|章鱼[zhāng yú])
Yú
surname Yu
忘
wàng
to forget / to overlook / to neglect
筌
quán
bamboo fish trap

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.