燕雀安んぞ鴻鵠の志を知らんや

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Japanese

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Kanji in this term
えん
Jinmeiyō
じゃく
Jinmeiyō
いずく
Grade: 3
こう
Jinmeiyō
こく
Hyōgai
こころざし
Grade: 5

Grade: 2
kan'on kun'yomi kan'on kun'yomi

Etymology

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From the 史記 (Shiki, Records of the Grand Historian).[1][2][3]

Calque of Literary Chinese 燕雀安知鴻鵠志 (yànquè ān zhī hónghú zhì, literally [small birds such as] swallows and sparrows cannot understand the aspirations of [large birds such as] swans).

Proverb

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(えん)(じゃく)(いずく)んぞ(こう)(こく)(こころざし)() (enjaku izukunzo kōkoku no kokorozashi o shiran'ya

  1. an ordinary person cannot understand the ambitions of a great man

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^ Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  3. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN