头 悬 梁，锥 刺 股

tóu xuán liáng , zhuī cì gǔdictionary entry

lit. with his head attached to a beam and stabbing his thigh with an awl (idiom) / fig. to study assiduously and tirelessly

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-8c46450b021e1cd2. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

頭懸梁，錐刺股 头悬梁，锥刺股 [tou2 xuan2 liang2 , zhui1 ci4 gu3] /lit. with his head attached to a beam and stabbing his thigh with an awl (idiom)/fig. to study assiduously and tirelessly/

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: 頭懸梁，錐刺股

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.