对 牛 弹 琴

duì niú tán qíndictionary entry

lit. to play the lute to a cow (idiom) / fig. offering a treat to an unappreciative audience / to cast pearls before swine / caviar to the general / to preach to deaf ears / to talk over sb's head

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-d98d839520fffc27. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

對牛彈琴 对牛弹琴 [dui4 niu2 tan2 qin2] /lit. to play the lute to a cow (idiom)/fig. offering a treat to an unappreciative audience/to cast pearls before swine/caviar to the general/to preach to deaf ears/to talk over sb's head/

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Reference information

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

Character information

Other forms in these source records: 對牛彈琴

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

对牛弹琴

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.