钻 牛 角 尖

zuān niú jiǎo jiāndictionary entry

to obsess over an insoluble or trivial problem / to get excessively hung up on details or particular issues

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-a769e6e77bf5990b. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

鑽牛角尖 钻牛角尖 [zuan1 niu2 jiao3 jian1] /to obsess over an insoluble or trivial problem; to get excessively hung up on details or particular issues/

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: 鑽牛角尖

钻
zuàn
drill / auger / diamond
zuān
to drill / to bore / to get into / to make one's way into / to enter (a hole) / to thread one's way through / to study intensively / to dig into / to curry favor for personal gain
牛
niú
ox / cow / bull / CL:條|条[tiáo],頭|头[tóu] / newton (abbr. for 牛頓|牛顿[niú dùn]) / (slang) awesome
Niú
surname Niu
角
jiǎo
angle / corner / horn / horn-shaped / unit of money equal to 0.1 yuan, or 10 cents (a dime) / CL:個|个[gè]
jué
role (theater) / to compete / ancient three legged wine vessel / third note of pentatonic scale
Jué
surname Jue
尖
jiān
pointed / tapering / sharp / (of a sound) shrill / piercing / (of one's hearing, sight etc) sharp / acute / keen / to make (one's voice) shrill / sharp point / tip / the best of sth / the cream of the crop

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.