猿猴取月 — “To make a futile attempt”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 猿猴取月?

比喻愚昧无知。也比喻白费力气。

猿猴取月 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to make a futile attempt”. To engage in a fruitless endeavor due to ignorance, misjudgment, or foolishness. Literally, “Monkeys trying to catch the moon”.

Frequency

猿猴取月 Pronunciation and Pinyin

猿猴取月 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
猿	yuán	13	ape
猴	hóu	12	monkey, ape, clever person
取	qǔ	8	to take, obtain, or choose
月	yuè	4	moon or month

Example Sentence with 猿猴取月

他花了很多时间研究这个无法实现的项目，简直是猿猴取月，白费力气。

He spent a lot of time researching this impossible project; it was like monkeys trying to catch the moon, a complete waste of effort.

Origin and Story of 猿猴取月

According to legend, in the ancient city of Benares, there lived five hundred macaques.

One day, while they were roaming in the forest, they spotted the reflection of the moon in a well under a tree. Their king, believing the moon had fallen into the well, declared to all the monkeys, 'The moon has fallen! We must retrieve it and put it back in the sky!'

So, one by one, the monkeys formed a chain, extending themselves from a tree branch down towards the well. Eventually, the branch snapped, and they all tumbled into the well.