蚍蜉撼大树 — “To attempt something far beyond one's power or capability”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 蚍蜉撼大树?

撼：摇动。蚂蚁想摇动大树。比喻不自量力

蚍蜉撼大树 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to attempt something far beyond one's power or capability”. To ridiculously overestimate one's own strength; a futile and self-overestimating effort. Literally, “An ant trying to shake a big tree”.

Frequency

蚍蜉撼大树 Pronunciation and Pinyin

蚍蜉撼大树 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
蚍	pí	10	ant trying to shake a tree
蜉	fú	13	mayfly or insignificant ant
撼	hàn	16	shake or move something
大	dà	3	large, big, great
树	shù	9	tree or plant

Example Sentence with 蚍蜉撼大树

妄图用一己之力挑战整个行业变革，简直是蚍蜉撼大树。

Attempting to challenge the transformation of an entire industry with one's individual power is simply an ant trying to shake a big tree.

Origin and Story of 蚍蜉撼大树

During the Tang Dynasty, not long after the deaths of the esteemed poets Li Bai and Du Fu, some individuals began to baselessly criticize and slander their works. Han Yu was greatly displeased by this.

He then wrote a poem titled "To Zhang Ji" for his friend, which contained these lines: "The writings of Li Bai and Du Fu endure, their brilliance shines for ten thousand li. Unaware of the foolishness of those petty individuals, why would they intentionally harm with their slander? An ant trying to shake a big tree, laughable in its overestimation of its own strength." Zhang Ji fully agreed with his sentiment.