刻鹄不成 — “To carve a swan but fail (ending up with a duck)”
刻鹄不成 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to attempt to imitate something of high quality but fail, resulting in something inferior or entirely different; to aim high but fall short due to lack of skill or proper method”. Literally, “To carve a swan but fail (ending up with a duck)”.
刻鹄不成 Pronunciation and Pinyin
刻鹄不成 Character Breakdown
Stroke OrderExample Sentence with 刻鹄不成
Idioms Related to 刻鹄不成
Synonyms of 刻鹄不成
More idioms starting with 刻
- kè刻bù不kě可huǎn缓cannot be delayed for a moment
- kè刻bù不róng容sōng松cannot relax even for a moment
- kè刻bù不róng容huǎn缓extremely urgent, brooks no delay
- kè刻bù不dài待shí时Time is pressing
- kè刻yì意qiú求gōng工strive for exquisite perfection
- kè刻yì意jīng经yíng营meticulously manage and plan
- kè刻mù木wéi为lì吏Extreme dread of tyrannical officials
- kè刻mù木wéi为hú鹄a rough but similar imitation
- kè刻huà画rù入wēi微depict with meticulous detail
- kè刻huà画wú无yán盐making an inappropriate comparison
- kè刻huà画wú无yán盐，，táng唐tū突xī西shī施insulting beauty by comparing it to ugliness
- kè刻zhāng章zhuó琢jù句meticulously refine writing
Recommended tools
Bingo Cards
Picture and word Bingo for your class
Open the tool →
Stroke Order Animator
Turn a Chinese character or sentence into a GIF or MP4
Open the tool →
Chinese Text Image Generator
Create PNGs with pinyin, highlight character parts or remove strokes
Open the tool →
Writing Worksheets
Printable tracing sheets with a QR learning companion
Open the tool →Questions about 刻鹄不成
What does 刻鹄不成 mean?
刻鹄不成 (kè gǔ bù chéng) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to attempt to imitate something of high quality but fail, resulting in something inferior or entirely different; to aim high but fall short due to lack of skill or proper method”.
How do you pronounce 刻鹄不成?
刻鹄不成 is pronounced kè gǔ bù chéng in Mandarin Chinese.
What does 刻鹄不成 literally mean?
Literally, 刻鹄不成 means “to carve a swan but fail (ending up with a duck)”. It is used to mean “to attempt to imitate something of high quality but fail, resulting in something inferior or entirely different; to aim high but fall short due to lack of skill or proper method”.
What is the Chinese definition of 刻鹄不成?
刻：刻画；鹄：天鹅。刻画天鹅不像倒像鸭子。比喻模仿失败，劝诫人不要好高骛远