qiāng dǎ chū tóu niǎodictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
the shot hits the bird that pokes its head out (idiom) / nonconformity gets punished
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-61b39d9fd9835199. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

槍打出頭鳥 枪打出头鸟 [qiang1 da3 chu1 tou2 niao3] /the shot hits the bird that pokes its head out (idiom)/nonconformity gets punished/

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: 槍打出頭鳥

  • 枪
    qiāng

    gun / firearm / rifle / spear / thing with shape or function similar to a gun / CL:支[zhī],把[bǎ],桿|杆[gǎn],條|条[tiáo],枝[zhī] / to substitute for another person in a test / to knock / classifier for rifle shots

    Qiāng

    surname Qiang

  • 打
    dá

    (loanword) dozen / Taiwan pr. [dǎ]

    dǎ

    to hit / to strike / to fight / (in many expressions) a semantically light transitive verb used with various objects to form expressions with a wide range of meanings, e.g. 打傘|打伞[dǎ sǎn] "to hold an umbrella", 打電話|打电话[dǎ diàn huà] "to make a phone call", 打針|打针[dǎ zhēn] "to get an injection" / (coll.) from / since

  • 出
    chū

    to go out / to come out / to arise / to occur / to produce / to yield / to go beyond / to exceed / (used after a verb to indicate an outward direction or a positive result) / classifier for dramas, plays, operas etc

  • 头
    tóu

    head / hair style / the top / end / beginning or end / a stub / remnant / chief / boss / side / aspect / first / leading / classifier for pigs or livestock / CL:個|个[gè]

    tou

    suffix for nouns

  • 鸟
    diǎo

    penis

    niǎo

    bird / CL:隻|只[zhī],群[qún] / "bird" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 196) / (dialect) to pay attention to / (intensifier) damned / goddamn

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.